Apple Hand Pies from the Tomb Raider Cookbook
On a rainy Sunday, I made the next recipe from the Tomb Raider Cookbook, Apple Hand Pies. As one of the book's North American recipes, it is a timeless American classic dessert made portable for adventures out in the world, or hikes.
Lara Croft hasn't visited America in any of the games, possibly due to a lack of archaeological sites of interest to her. That said, her nemesis Jacqueline Natla was accidentally released from her stasis by a nuclear test in the Los Alamos desert of New Mexico, and Lara breaks into her office at Natla Technologies/Industries' headquarters in Seattle. Perhaps she indulged in a hand pie along the way.
I cut up four peeled Granny Smith apples as instructed and cooked them with the required ingredients until they were soft. I found the liquid wasn't reducing as much as I thought it would, then realized I should've had the heat higher. Once that was done, I had to chill it in the fridge for half an hour, but after that it was still not completely cooled, so I put the bottom of the bowl they were in into an ice bath to plummet the temperature. Then I was ready to fill the pies.
I don't do a lot of baking unless I'm trying out a recipe, purely because it's very precise and if you make a mistake, you can ruin certain recipes or have unintended consequences for others. I also hate cleaning my counter, and tried to avoid doing that by rolling out my puff pastry on a cutting board. Trouble is, I chose one of my cutting boards that isn't flat, and rather than roll out into a straight square, the pastry began to stretch at the sides and look like an X. Once I begrudgingly cleaned my counter and reformed my pastry, I was able to get it to the right size and cut out enough squares (6x3, 16 in total or 8 per sheet) to form my pies. I even used a ruler to ensure it was the right length and width.
By the way, I've said in previous pie recipe posts that you can pan-fry any scraps of dough cut off as a snack like bannock bread. That doesn't work with puff pastry. They came out very chewy and tough, so I don't recommend trying it with that.
The recipe says to bake the pies for 20 to 25 minutes until the puff pastry is crispy. I went for the minimum 20, but it needed the extra 25. Ovens are different, so keep an eye on it and cook them to your desired crispiness. These turned out pretty good, and I'd definitely recommend trying them.
If you want to make this recipe for Apple Hand Pies yourself, you can find it in Tomb Raider: The Official Cookbook and Travel Guide.
