Helen Goh has released a recipe for miso-toffee apple hand pies designed for Bonfire Night. The portable pastries feature gently spiced, toffee-glossed apples wrapped in rustic, homely parcels meant for eating outdoors.
Preparation and Filling Architecture
The recipe yields eight hand pies and requires a total preparation time of 10 minutes, a 30-minute maceration window, and one hour and 15 minutes of cooking time, alongside necessary chilling phases. The filling utilizes 800 grams of apples—ideally an even split of Granny Smith and Pink Lady varieties—peeled, cored, and segmented into 1.5 to 2-centimeter pieces to net 650 grams of fruit.
The apple pieces combine in a large bowl with 80 grams of light brown sugar, two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, one teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and a quarter teaspoon of fine sea salt. This mixture macerates at room temperature for at least 30 minutes with occasional tossing. After maceration, the apples are strained to reserve approximately 100 milliliters of liquid.
Cooking the filling involves melting 50 grams of unsalted butter in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. The strained apples cook for four to five minutes until softening begins. The reserved liquid then goes into the pan, reducing for three to four minutes until a glossy caramel forms around the apples. White miso (20 grams) and vanilla extract (one teaspoon) are stirred in before taking the pan off the heat. The finished filling spreads across a tray to cool quickly before refrigeration until completely cold.
Assembly and Baking Specifications
Assembly requires two 320-gram packs of shop-bought puff pastry, one small egg, 50 grams of plain flour, and one tablespoon of demerara sugar. A single egg beaten with a generous pinch of salt serves as the wash. The first pastry sheet is unrolled on its baking paper and cut into four equal rectangles, while the second sheet remains refrigerated.
Chefs place approximately 60 grams of cold filling onto one half of each pastry rectangle, leaving a 1.5-centimeter border around three outer edges. Brushing these borders lightly with the egg wash must avoid the cut edges to prevent sealing the pastry layers, which would hinder rising. Folding the uncovered pastry over the filling creates the parcel, sealed by crimping the edges with flour-dipped fork tines.
The four pies transfer on their baking paper to an oven tray and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes alongside a second tray holding the remaining batch until cold and firm. The oven heats to 200C (180C fan), 390F, or gas mark 6. The tops receive an application of remaining egg wash, a sprinkling of demerara sugar, and three knife slashes for steam release. Baking takes roughly 30 minutes with tray rotation halfway through until the pastry is puffed and deeply golden. Following a 10-minute rest on the trays, the pies transfer to a rack for serving warm or at room temperature.
