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Apple & Rhubarb Hand Pies

• For the pastry:
• 2 1/2 cups / 250g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz / 225g unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup / 118ml sour cream
• 1/2 cup / 118ml ice water

• For the filling:
• approx 3 cups / 1lb fresh rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
• approx 2 cups / 1lb cooking apples, or green apples, cut into 1-inch pieces. *Next time I may do smaller pieces for the hand pies as 1-inch was a bit big, but this size works perfectly for crumbles, etc*
• 1/2 cup / 95g white sugar
• 1/2 cup / 100g brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons / 43g unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup / 25g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2-inch piece / approx 1.25cm fresh ginger, grated

• For the eggwash:
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons milk or water

To  make the pastry, start with two glass bowls. Put the flour into one bowl and the butter into another bowl and pop both of them into the freezer. Yes, really. Let them chill out (hehe) for no longer than an hour. Take them out of the freezer and cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter. If your butter was frozen rock solid like mine you may need to wait a few minutes for it to get to the right cutting consistency. Keep cutting until you have the texture of coarse meal, don't worry if you still have visible chunks of butter, that's what make the pastry flaky and puffy! In another bowl, mix the lemon juice, sour cream and ice water. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour half of the liquid into the flour. Stir it with your hands until some of the mixture begins to ball up and come away from the sides. You can either remove the balls of dough to another bowl or do as I did and shove them to one side and add the other half of the water. Mix until you have a solid consistency and dump out onto a floured board. Pat all of the lumps into a ball being careful not to overwork the pastry, wrap in cling film and put into the fridge. It will be ready to work with in about an hour. I brought the pastry to this step the day before and left it to chill overnight, or you could also freeze it for up to a month at this stage. 

Once chilled, cut the dough in half and keep one half wrapped in the fridge. Roll the dough on a well-floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. You can use whatever size cutter you like here, but I used a 4-inch diameter cutter and it was almost too small. I would probably try a 5-inch cutter next time, and add a little bit more filling to compensate. Cut the dough into circles, and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can re-roll the scraps and make a few extra discs but be very careful not to overwork, its best to get as many discs as possible from one roll. Put the discs back in the fridge for a half an hour. 

In the meantime make the filling by melting the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the rhubarb and lemon juice to the pan and allow to cook down for a minute or two, then add the apples and cook a further 2 minutes. The rhubarb will transform from lovely tart chunks to a soft pink sauce-like texture. Add the vanilla extract, and the flour. Cook for a minute more to get rid of any raw flour taste. Off the heat add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Leave to cool. 

Once your discs have had a half an hour in the fridge and your filling is completely cool, take the discs out of the fridge. They may need a minute to become pliable, otherwise begin filling right away. To fill, put about a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle of the disc. With your finger, dab a bit of cold water around the edge and fold over to seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges together. Once you've done all of the sealing, put them back into the fridge for another half an hour. (Just trust me). 

Preheat the oven to 375f / 190c. Make the eggwash by whisking together the egg and milk or water. Take the pies out of the fridge and brush with eggwash. Cut a slit in the top of each pie to allow the steam to escape. Pop into the oven for 20 minutes or until golden and puffed up. Remove to a wire rack to cool immediately as the pastry will become too soft on the bottom of the pies if left to cool in the pan. 

Makes about 20 - 24 depending on size, less if you use a larger cutter. In my experience, you may want to just double the whole recipe, they really are that good.