Homemade Apple Hand Pies. These tasty apple pocket pies are great for an afternoon snack, dessert, or as a breakfast treat. Also called Milopitakia, these Greek desserts feature fresh apples and walnuts.
For the filling – 4 medium apples – ⅓ c coconut sugar – 1 teaspoon vanilla extract – ⅓ c raisins – ½ c walnuts – ½ teaspoon cinnamon – ¼ teaspoon mandarin or orange zest For the dough – ½ c mandarin or orange juice – ⅓ c + 2 tablespoon olive oil – ¼ c powdered sugar – ½ teaspoon cinnamon – ¼ teaspoon mandarin or orange zest – ⅛ teaspoon salt – 1 ¾ c all-purpose flour – 2 teaspoon baking powder
1. In a large saucepan combine finely chopped apples, sugar, vanilla and a few tablespoons of water. Put the saucepan on a medium to low heat and simmer until apples are very soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Add chopped walnuts, raisins, cinnamon and a half of all orange zest. Mix it well. The filling should be smooth and thick. If it's falling apart, you can take a potato masher and mash the filling for a little bit. Set the filling aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl combine orange or mandarin juice, refined olive oil, powdered sugar, cinnamon, the remaining half of orange zest and salt. Mix it well.
4. In a smaller bowl mix flour and baking powder. To a bowl with the liquid ingredients, gradually start adding flour mixture, mixing the dough after each time. Shape the dough into a ball.
5. Invert the dough on a silicone baking mat or lightly floured surface and roll out the dough until it's about ¼ inch thick. Using a glass or 3 ¼ inch cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough.
6.Lightly roll out each circle to make it a bit bigger and place a heaping teaspoon of filling in a center of each circle. Fold the dough circles in half, and use your fingers to tightly press the edges together. Make sure there're no gaps. Otherwise the juices will leak out during baking.
7.Place the hand pie on a parchment lined baking sheet and repeat these steps with the remaining circles of dough. Bake at 395 F for 10-15 minutes until the Greek apple hand pies are golden brown.
8. Transfer Milopitakia on a serving plate and sprinkle with some powdered sugar. Enjoy!