Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

I am introduced to salted caramel when I started pinning and discovering recipes on my Pinterest board. I've been dying to try it, and when I decided to bake some apple hand pies, I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate the salted caramel into my filling, right? Well, not really. On a mission to make me some salted caramel I marched my way to the kitchen. I started by caramelising my sugar beautifully, only to realise I didn't have some cream in the fridge. I found some milk though, and poured it in to thin out the caramel. Then, as excited as I was, I sprinkled the salt into the caramel, and it was a very generous sprinkle. I forgot that it was cooking/table salt I was sprinkling, not some Maldon sea salt or anything. My caramel ended up quite salty, but I used it anyway, just a few tablespoons it went into my filling. I wasn't that bad, I think. On another note, as I was Pinteres-ting the other day, I found this beautiful salted caramel apple hand pies on Just a Taste. What a coincidence! I guess great minds think alike, no? I would love to try Kelly's (the blog owner) recipe next time. For now, this is what I did:  
 

I prepare the (disastrous) salted caramel first. I didn't measure my ingredients though, trying to act like a pro, and I was too lazy. Serves me right. I caramelise some sugar, poured some milk and sprinkle (a generous) amount of salt into the caramel. What was I thinking?

 




Next, I make the pie crust and refrigerate it while I prepare the filling. Peel, core and cut the apples into cubes. Fry the apples to soften them a bit and add in cinnamon and salted caramel. 









This is how my filling looks like:



 





After that, take out the pie dough from the fridge. Roll it on a floured surface and cut out round shapes out of it (I used a cup to do it).


 



  
Then, spoon the filling into one piece dough and top it with another piece. Crimp the edges with a fork. Continue with the rest. 
 









When done, glaze with milk, sprinkle some sugar on top and bake them in a preheated oven.







Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

Salted Caramel Sauce:
This is a good recipe I found on seasonsandsuppers website. The recipe is for caramel sauce though, so just add a few pinches of sea salt to turn into salted caramel sauce.

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• a few pinches of sea salt. 

To make, combine the sugar, 1/2 cup water and corn syrup in heavy-bottomed, medium sized saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves (mixture becomes clear). Increase the heat and boil, without stirring, until mixture turns a deep amber color, occasionally swirling the pan, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Carefully add the cream (you may want to stand back as the mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir sauce over low heat until any caramel bits dissolve and sauce is smooth. Let caramel sauce cool to room temperature and add in a few pinches of sea salt.


Pie Dough: 
This recipe, taken from Woolworth Australia's Fresh magazine (August 2011, Issue 66) is as close to my go-to recipe, except I didn't add the egg, so I add more water. 

• 2 cups plain flour
• 125g cold butter, cubed
• 1 egg 
• 2 tbsp ice cold water

Place the flour and cubed butter in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and water and process until mixture forms a dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead, lightly, until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. 

Apple Pie Filling:
I did not measure my ingredients as I prepare the filling since I normally would taste it along the way. This is just my rough estimation.

• 4 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored and cut into cubes)
• 4 tbsp salted caramel sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Fry the apples about 2 mins to soften them a little and add the salted caramel and cinnamon. Stir to coat and leave the filling to cool. 

To Assemble:

• Preheat the oven at 180C
• Take out the pie dough from the fridge. Roll it out on a floured surface. Cut out small discs out of the dough using a cookie cutter or a cup. 
• Spoon about 2 tsp of the filling into a dough disc and top it with another disc. Secure the edges with a fork.
• If you like, brush the hand pies with milk and sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top.
• Bake the pies for about 20 mins or until golden brown.