Fried apple pies are flakey and crisp, like fair food, but so good. Little fried apple pies make for a rustic, quick, and easy treat; and you can use premade apple pastry filling to make it even easier. Just roll and cut out the crust, stick it into the dough press, load in the filling, crimp the edges, and fry.
What You’ll Need for Fried Apple Pies
- Use a premade pie crust or the recipe below.
- Use a dough press to cut and crimp your crust.
- Use an apple pastry filling. Or make your filling with fresh apples.
How to Make the Filling for Your Fried Apple Pies
You can make the filling from scratch or use a premade apple pastry filling. The premade filling is not expensive and is perfect for these little pies. It’s also much more convenient and tastes just as great.
Learn more about premade apple filling.
The Apple Pie Filling Recipe (in place of the premade filling)
- 2 cups diced apple pieces (diced into 1/4-inch pieces)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 cups water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
In a medium bowl, mix the apples, lemon juice, water, flour, and sugar together. Melt the butter in the microwave. Stir in the spices and the butter and let the filling cook for another couple minutes. Set the filling aside.
The Crust Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 12 tablespoons very cold butter
- 3/4 cup very cold water
Directions
- Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together.
- Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture is granular.
- Add the cold water and mix with a fork until the dough begins to come together. Remove the dough to the counter and knead it just until you have a dough ball.
Form the little pies.
How to Form and Fill Your Little Pies
Roll and cut the dough: Roll the dough out to a scant 1/4-inch thick. Check the thickness of the dough with a toothpick. The back of your dough press is a cutter. Use it to cut the dough into six-inch circles.
Add the filling: Place a dough circle on the dough press. The dough will follow the bowl-shaped contour of the press. Place 1/4 cup filling in the formed bowl. Brush a little water on the edges of the dough to help the stick the two layers of dough together and seal. Using the dough press, fold the dough over to make a turnover and press firmly to seal.
Your pie is now ready for frying.
How to Fry Your Little Apple Pies
Heat three inches of vegetable oil until hot, about 355 degrees. Slip the pastries into the hot oil one or two at a time allowing the temperature of the oil to recover after each. Let them cook for eight to ten minutes or until golden-colored.
Remove them to a plate covered with paper towels. Serve them hot or cold.
Tips for Success
- The apple dices must be no larger than 1/4 inch else they may not cook through.
- It is important that the dough remains cold so that the butter particles remain solid and not melt before cooking. If the dough does not feel cool, chill it in the refrigerator for an hour or more.
- Make up at least most of the pies before starting to cook. That way you will not be rushed to make up pies while others are cooking.
- Roll the dough thin, just less than 1/4 inch.
- Don’t put too much filling in each pie. If the filling tries to slip out as you seal the edges, you are using too much filling.
- Make sure the edges seal. Water brushed on the portions to be sealed helps the two layers stick together. Filling on the edges makes the pie more difficult to seal.
- The temperature of the oil is important to success. If it is too hot, the pies will burn before cooking completely. If too cool, they will tend to be soggy. A frying thermometer is helpful.
- The oil needs to be deep enough that the pies will be immersed. Turn the pies often so that any portion resting on the bottom of the hot pan will not burn.
