Nitrate & Nitrite Free Paleo Cassava Flour Apple Hand Pies
These little hand pies are everything you want in a portable dessert — golden, crimped pastry wrapped around a warmly spiced apple filling that smells incredible the moment it hits the oven. The crust is built entirely from cassava flour and solid coconut oil, which gives it a surprisingly tender, flaky texture without any grain or dairy. The filling keeps things clean and simple: fresh diced apples cooked down with maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and a touch of arrowroot starch to get that perfectly thick, jammy consistency. Every single ingredient here is naturally free of cured-meat additives and preservatives — no processed shortcuts, no hidden extras, just real food doing its job beautifully. That matters more than it might seem, since a lot of packaged pastries and pie fillings sneak in additives you'd never expect in something sweet. The dough does need a little patience — chilling it properly and adding the ice water gradually are the steps that make or break the texture — but the process is genuinely straightforward. Once they come out of the oven with those blistered, egg-washed tops, it's very hard to wait the full ten minutes before diving in.
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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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