Toss the diced apple, lemon juice, brown sugar, apple pie spice and salt in a mixing bowl.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, and add the apple mixture to the saucepan. Cook until the sugar dissolves completely and the apple pieces are just starting to soften, about 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch with cold water, and add this slurry into the saucepan, stir until the pie filling thickens, about 1 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside to cool completely.

Add flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse several times to mix. Add cubed cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs and butter is about pea size. Add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough starts to pull together.

Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured board, gather together and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the fridge for an hour.

Take the pie dough out of the refrigerator and roll out to between 1/8” to 1/4” thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into circles using a 4.5” cookie cutter. Re-roll the scraps and continue cutting into circles. One batch of pie dough should yield 8 circles and some scraps for decorations. Place the circles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.

Reroll the scraps and use a pie crust stamp to cut out cute shapes if desired. Place the shapes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Beat an egg with one tablespoon of milk to make the egg wash.

Take out one of the dough circles from the refrigerator, work with one piece of dough at a time while the remaining rest in the refrigerator. Use a small rolling pin to roll the top half of the dough circle to enlarge it just a bit. This will help it fold over the pie filling.

Brush egg wash around the bottom edge of the circle, add a heaping tablespoon of cool apple pie filling on top. Fold the top half over to cover the filling. Press the edges together and seal with a fork. Repeat for the remaining circles.

To attach decorations to the pies, brush the back of the decorations with egg wash and adhere it to the top of the pie.

Place the hand pies on a parchment lined baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 15 - 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Just before baking, brush egg wash generously over the entire surface of the pies, including the decorations. Create steam vents on top of the hand pies by poking holes with the tip of a paring knife.

Mix turbinado sugar with apple pie spice (optional) and sprinkle generously over the top.

Bake 18 - 19 minutes uncovered until golden brown

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.