OLD TIMEY FRIED APPLE PIES
This recipe for Fried Apple Pies is made using dried apples and homemade crusts. They are either deep fried or fried in a skillet like my Mama used to make years ago. The only difference is I did not dry the apples and she dried her own apples. There is a recipe for Easy Fried Apple Pies using canned biscuits and Luck’s apples on the site, too. They are both good but this one reminds me of the times I watched Mama frying these pies in a kitchen with no air conditioning or on a cold winter day using the dried apples from summer.
Apple pies made the old fashioned way!
Apple Pie Filling
2 (4.5 ounce) packages dried apples
3 cups water
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cover dried apples with water and cook on top of the stove over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes until water is almost all absorbed by the apples. Add the white sugar, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Continue cooking another five to 10 minutes while stirring and mashing the apples until they look like pie filling. Remove and set aside to cool.
Dough for Pie Crusts
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
Water – 1 cup more or less
Cut shortening into flour until looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in salt. Add water a little at a time until you can form a dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into circles about 7 inches across. (I use a plastic bowl) Your circles can be smaller if you want. I just like a good sized fried pie. Fill each circle with about 2 tablespoons of the apples. Moisten the edges of the circle with some water on your fingers. Fold over and seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the pies together.
Cooking the Pies
Oil – Enough to be about 1/2 inch deep in your skillet (I use Canola oil)
It is easier for me to use two slotted spatulas to lower the pies into the oil. You can use whatever works for you. Fry pies until a golden brown on each side. Remove and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. This makes about 12 fried pies. Enjoy! Note: If you have any filling left over, it’s great for breakfast on my homemade buttermilk biscuits!
Fried Apple Pies
Ingredients
Apple Pie Filling
- 2 4.5 ounce packages dried apples
- 3 cups water
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Dough for Pie Crusts
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Water – 1 cup more or less
Cooking the Pies
- Oil – Enough to be about 1/2 inch deep in your skillet I use Canola oil
Instructions
Apple Pie Filling Instructions
- Cover dried apples with water and cook on top of the stove over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes until water is almost all absorbed by the apples. Add the white sugar, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Continue cooking another five to 10 minutes while stirring and mashing the apples until they look like pie filling. Remove and set aside to cool.
Dough Instructions
- Cut shortening into flour until looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in salt. Add water a little at a time until you can form a dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into circles about 7 inches across. (I use a plastic bowl)
- Your circles can be smaller if you want. I just like a good sized fried pie. Fill each circle with about 2 tablespoons of the apples. Moisten the edges of the circle with some water on your fingers. Fold over and seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the pies together.
Cooking the Pies
- Oil – Enough to be about 1/2 inch deep in your skillet (I use Canola oil)
- It is easier for me to use two slotted spatulas to lower the pies into the oil. You can use whatever works for you. Fry pies until a golden brown on each side. Remove and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
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I remember watching and helping my Momma make Fried Pies,She would make peach,raisins and apple.
Thank you for sharing this recipe,I will definitely be making these Pies!!!
I have never had these. But I am going to try them soon.
Thank you
My grandmother would make fried apple pies every morning fresh for my dad to come by on his way to work & get for his morning break & for my grandfather to eat during the day since he was retired. I know she did it long before I was born in 1968 & until 1994, when she wasn’t physically able to do it due to a car wreck & passed away in 1999. My grandfather dried the apples that he got off their apple tree in the yard & they would keep them in the freezer. I remember helping him take them out of a morning & bring them in at night. Brings back so many great memories! Oh what I would give to have one of her fried apple pies! I’ve tried to make them using fried apples that I made in a skillet, but it will NEVER taste like my grandmother’s did.
My grandmother would use jam or preserves to make her pies. Sometimes she’d use her homemade pie filling in them. They were the best!
My Mother had screens which were homemade and we peeled and sliced the apples and laid them outside to dry in the sun. When they were dry we bagged them and kept them in the freezer. Mama would take them and cook them and made homemade biscuit dough to use. She fried them in Crisco and they were the best there was.
Sounds like my Grandmom’s my favorite dessert we would put apples on the pump house let them dry the best she fry them with very little oil and they were soft Yummm!
These are so good, my grandma made them for us. Now we use coconut oil melted in an electric skillet to make ours.
They are delicious!!
What temperature should the oil be heated too?
I just have the oil hot enough to fry chicken. It should not be at a rolling boil but hot enough to sizzle when you put in the pies. I do mine in a skillet so you don’t want it to pop all over the kitchen.
A tip given to me about heating oil. Stand the tip-end handle of a wooden spoon in the oil; if it bubbles and fries; it’s hot enough.
For years my grandmother made a buttermilk biscuit dough, therefore I simply use the biggest buttermilk canned biscuit I can find roll them out (I do not use the flaky canned biscuit ) I roll them out and I fill them with an apple pie filling or cherry pie filling or another fruit pie fill, fold them over & crimp them good and frying them…exactly like Marion does! They’re so simple and so delicious, and @ 80 years of age I like the easiest way.
You can also Buy the Pie Crust already made, The pet-Ritz that you make a whole pie with, Defrost it, cut the size you want out of the already made Pie-Crust, It’s like using Canned Biscuits instead also. You can use Canned Pie Filling, any Flavor, or Luck’s Fried Apples. They can be Baked or Fried, Just make sure add some kinda Grease, Oil, Lard. I’ve made these for years & Experimented with all sorts of Fruit, Canned Apples, Canned Pie Filling, Fresh Fruit & The Dried. They are very easy.
I tried using the grands buscuit dough, and when I fried them, the edges kept coming apart. 🙁
Try brushing on a little water around the edge of the circle. Fold over then press edges with the tines of a fork. This helps seal the dough.
I grew up eating my mother’s fried pies which were delicious. She made apple, peach and raisin and my favorite was her raisin pies.
Can you share the raisin pie recipe?
Wish I had the recipe for fried raisin pies
Mash edges with your fingers, pinch them together & kinda twist once you’ve pinched them. Pinch & twist firmly & they’ll stay together. Also, if you add too much Filling/ Apples, they’ll break open.
My grandmother made fried pies every Christmas. She made apple but the ones she made from dried peaches were my favorite.
Does anyone know how long and what degrees if baked?
For goodness sakes, the recipe is for fried hand pies, not baked hockey pucks. Live a little! As an country raised girl, who has these frequently, you have to fry them for the proper flakiness and density on crust. If you bake them, they will be like an apple turnover or something, not traditional at all. You have read the latest research that fat is healthy, especially for your brain right? Get some lard and fry some of these up. It will be the best thing you have eaten in years!
Thank you! These poor people who fret about a little sugar or fat and then modify recipes slay me, particularly when I think how many drink diet sodas. A little cream, butter, sugar and fat is good for the body – in sensible portions – and good for the soul. And contains fewer-to-no chemicals. I’m with Melanie.
You can put little bit lard / Oil in pan/ Cookie Sheet & put some Oil on your hands & rub over top of Pies as well. You can Bake them until Golden Brown. Just make sure you add some type of oil on bottom of pan when u lay them on pan & put some oil on top of pies before Baking them, It’ll be fine.
Just needs some HOMEMADE ice cream to top it off!!!!!!
can you use regular veg oil in dough
I would think you could do that Linda.
Can you bake them
Just like my Grannie made! We also dried our apples from our backyard tree! What great memories!!
Home dried apples are the best. My mom dried appls every summer. They were a rusty color, bought ones just do not taste the same to me.
I always made fried apples and used as my filling. And if you don’t want to make a homemade crust you can roll out canned biscuits.
what kind of canned biscuits?
Use the canned flaky biscuits that have layers that separate.
Sometimes can make a couple extra pies by not making crust too thick.
Thank you for this recipe! My Mom made these & the only recipes I could find for them were not the way she made them. Most of them used applesauce not dried apples which is what she used. Thanks for all the great recipes!
I don’t have Crisco just liquid oil is their another you can make crust I don’t use shortening.
This is the only way I make these pies. You might try butter.
;;;;;;;;try using the refrigerated pie crust or Jiffy box crust mix
My mamaw down in Eastern Ky. used to make these. She dried her own apples also. They were so good as I am sure these are! I enjoy your site and all your recipes. Thank you!
can I use canned apples?
Yes, you can use canned apples.
My mother made these but often would cook the peelings of apples or peaches in the summer after freezing or canning the fruit. For us kids she would make chocolate fried pies by mixing cocoa,sugar and butter for the filling. Sooo good!!
My mother made both dried apple pies and the chocolate pies but I never knew how she prepared the cocoa filling. I remember how the chocolate would ooze out of the crust and harden in the skillet and I thought that crusty chocolate was so good.
How long do you dry the apples? Sounds like a weird question but I’m unsure…….. These sound like something my granny would have made when I was little! Shes the one who taught me how to make sausage gravy from scratch and fried chicken….. I just want to make sure they turn out right! My boys will love them I’m sure!
Sorry, I do not. Sure wish I did. My family are lovers of chocolate.
I doubt that my mother had a recipe. It was probably by feel and texture and unfortunately I have not tried to duplicate.
Your Mom and mine cooked so alike. I love your recipes. I have been looking for this one for 2 years.
Where do you find dried apples? What section in the store? I shop at Krogers and Walmart.
Mine were in the section where the nuts are located.
Look just like Grannie used to make, she made hers from apples we dried in the summer. We had an old twin size bed with metal springs, covered them with newspaper & like the sun dry them. Oh those were the days!!!
These look just like the ones my great grandmother made when I was little. Can’t wait to try!
I make fried apples using masa harina (found in aisle where spanish food is found. Do not use the instant kind.)for the dough. It makes wonderful pie crust, very flaky.
I grew up eating fried pies. Mother made them a lot. Sometimes she would make peach ones and sometimes (for us kids) applesauce ones. Thanks!
My grandmother made them and I think she used applesauce sometimes just cooked apples. Loved eating them still warm with a glass of milk as a kid. I can’t remember for sure am going to try them. So good.9
What about peanut oil
Yes, I think you could use peanut oil, too.
Me again. I notice that you use canola oil alot. If/ When you don’t have it, what do you use? Can regular veggie replace canola? Thanx.
Yes, you can use vegetable oil.
I have made these and they turned out great. My question is storing them. When I put them on a plate and cover them with saran wrap they turn doughy and don’t last very long. I saw where someone used wax paper. Is that the best way? Any suggestions welcome.
I put mine in a plastic container in the fridge. Then, reheat in the microwave.
You just eat them while they are hot. They do not keep once made. You can freeze dough (already patted out with wax paper in-between each) and keep filling in fridge for about a week. Make a couple at a time as wanted.
Dear Grace, I agree they are better hot. However, my husband likes to take these as a very special treat when he fishes. I put them in a sandwich bag and his fingers and hands do not have to touch them. If some one is going with him I put in extras for them. One fishing companion had a dog he took with them. While he was eating his he ate the crust around the edges, saving the best–inside filling till last– and laid the rest down so he could use his hands to do something. Duke the dog watching closely grabbed and swallowed in one big bite. LOL
My Sister in law and I made these pies to take to the beach. However we made regular pie crust and baked them. They stay crispy when baked. We would put them in a cardboard box, like the bakery uses.
My Aunt brings to reunion, everyone gets theirs before main meal, I make them too. My Grandmother made them then she took milk and added sugar and cinnamon to milk, put pie in a dish poured milk over and it was yummy!!
When you say “shortening” are you talking about crisco or butter? Thanks for posting the recipe, I can’t wait to try it!
Crisco.
How many cups of dried apples are in 2 (4.5 oz) packages? I’ve dried my own apples
If you consider 8 ounces in a cup, it would be a little over a cup of dried apples.
In what section would you find “dried apples” and if you wanted to dry the apples yourself – how do you go about that? Thanks.
I found them in Walmart. I think they were near the raisins and such but can’t be sure. You have to put them in the hot sun, spread out on something outside or use one of the food drying machines.
At the Walmart stores, the dried fruit is with the raisins, craisins, dried cherry, plums, and etc…
Mama made her fried pies with the packaged dried fruit, and they were the best. This is how I make mine, except I use canned cherries for cherry fried pies. Thanks…..
Oh my, you brought back memores on this cold and windy late afternoon. My mother made these often and I have never tried.
Wish I lived near you….
My aunt Shirley and the other ladies in the “Ladies Willing Worker Band” made these by the 100s to make monies for our church (maybe once a month) & delivered them to your house. I remember coming home from school and opening the screen door, to find a paper bag with a 1/2 dozen or so in waxed paper sacks -STILL WARM.Y-m-m! They can be made using seasoned/sweetened applesauce and canned seasoned peaches, too. (or any kind of ready-to-bake fruit pie filling-cherry, etc. One of my favorite childhood memories. This is back when the milkman brought milk in bottles with the cream on the top…What an after school snack!
My Mother made fried pies when we were little, hers were apricot.We loved them. After all the fuss about fried pies and oil she started baking them. Still good but not as good as fried.
Can’t wait to try this recipe, one of the ladies at our church used to make them but she passed away. She was wonderful. I will think of her when I make these. Thank you.
Wow! These. Look. So. Good!! I have to make them when my “kids” come over next week!! Cannot wait! 🙂
I use Can biscuits for my dough…I roll them out on floured surface…..so easy and sooo good!