Apple Hand Pies

For the pastry dough:
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Use a pastry cutter (or two knives) to cut in the lard until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Add the soda pop and stir together with a fork until the dough begins to hold together. Use your hands to gently finish combining the pastry dough ingredients, being careful not to overwork the dough.

Separate the dough into two equal portions and shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for one hour.

For the apple pie filling:
Add the diced apples to a bowl and mix with the remaining filling ingredients. Set aside.

To assemble the pies:
Preheat oven to 375 F.

Remove one disk of pastry dough at a time from the refrigerator, unwrap and roll out each on a lightly floured surface. Use a 3″ round cutter to cut circles out of the dough. Re-roll the scraps to make additional rounds.

In the center of half of the circles, place 1-2 tablespoons of apple pie filling.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Use a small pastry brush, or the tip of your finger, to run the egg wash around the edge of one of the circles of pastry dough without apples on top. Place the top circle of dough over the bottom dough and filling and gently press the edges together. Use a lightly floured fork to press an indent around the edges of the dough to seal the two crusts together. Transfer each hand pie to a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.

Use a sharp knife to poke small steam vents into the top of each hand pie. Gently brush each apple hand pie with whipping cream. Put the pans into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.