Chestnut Free Paleo Cassava Flour Apple Hand Pies
These little hand pies are everything you want in a portable dessert — golden, crimped edges, a warmly spiced apple filling, and a tender crust that somehow manages to feel both rustic and refined. Cassava flour does the heavy lifting here, standing in for conventional wheat flour to create a dough that rolls out beautifully and holds its shape through baking. The filling is a simple skillet situation: diced apples cooked down with maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and a touch of arrowroot starch to get those juices perfectly thick and glossy. Coconut oil replaces butter throughout, keeping the whole recipe grain-free and dairy-free without sacrificing that satisfying, flaky-ish bite. For anyone navigating tree nut concerns, every single ingredient here is straightforward and easy to verify — no ambiguous add-ins, no specialty blends with hidden components. The dough does need a little patience (chilling is non-negotiable, and cassava absorbs water fast, so go slow with it), but the steps are genuinely approachable for a home baker of any level. Serve them slightly warm and you'll have a hard time stopping at one.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
For the crust
- 2 cups cassava flour, plus more for dusting
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ cup coconut oil, solid (not melted)
- 6–8 tbsp ice water
- 1 large egg, beaten (for egg wash)
For the filling
- 3 medium apples (about 1 lb), peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp arrowroot starch
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- 1
Make the filling: melt 1 tbsp coconut oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the diced apples, maple syrup, cinnamon, and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender and the liquid has reduced slightly, about 6–8 minutes. Stir in the arrowroot starch and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute more, until the juices thicken and coat the apples. Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely, about 20–30 minutes.
- 2
Make the crust: whisk together the cassava flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the solid coconut oil in small spoonfuls and work it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining.
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