Apple, Hazelnut and Cinnamon Hand-Pies Recipe

The apple blossom is out in all it's glory on the apple trees in our back garden, and Aggi our baby puppy has had so much fun chasing the falling flower confetti as it's danced about the garden in the cold wind and rain we have been having over the weekend! You can see our big apple tree from the kitchen window and it got me thinking about warm late summer, when we have more apples than we know what to do with, and how my little kitchen is full of the smells of apple butter, crumbles, and tarts and how we go to bed full of apple goodness and sometimes a tummy ache!
I wanted a taste of those summer days for breakfast so I decided to make some yummy Apple, Hazelnut and Cinnamon Hand-Pies. You can make the pastry from scratch and a lot of times I do, but who wants to be making puff pastry when you are hungry for breakfast? So I used bought puff pastry and the it worked just great.

Ingredients: (Makes 5 heart shaped hand-pies)
1 Pack Puff Pastry
2 Apples Diced Small
1/4 Cup Hazelnuts Roughly Chopped
2 Tbsp of unrefined Golden Sugar
1/2 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 Cup of Soya or Hazelnut Milk
3 Tbsp of Flour to roll out the dough
Heart Shaped Cutter and Mini Bluebird Cutter Optional

Preheat your oven to 190c. In a bowl place the sliced apple, hazelnuts, sugar and cinnamon and mix until everything is evenly coated in sugar and cinnamon.
On a floured surface roll out your puff pastry. You don't want to roll it too thin as it will not seal the pies properly, but too thick will yield a soggy dough inside the pie, so roll to around a 50p piece thickness. Cut out 10 hearts with your cutter.
Place a tablespoon of apple mixture into the centre of 5 of your hearts, and using a pastry brush, wet the edges of the heart with the soya milk. Place another cut out heart over the top and gently seal all the way round. Take a knife and gently crimp the edge by pressing gently with the side of the blade all the way round the edge. Use the pastry brush to milk wash the top of the pie, this will ensure a lovely even golden bake.
With the left over trimmings cut out some little bluebirds or any decorations you would like. Press them gently onto the top of the pie. They should stick as you have milk washed the top of the pie. Brush the tops of your decorations with a little more milk.
When you have done this to all 5 pies, place them on a baking sheet which has been covered in baking paper and bake in an oven for 15mins at 190c.
The apple will be gently steamed and cooked and the cinnamon and sugar will have created a sticky sauce, yum! Serve straight from the oven. Enjoy!