Fried (or Baked) Apple “Half-Moon” Pies

These are fried pies, made by folding a circle of dough over fresh or dried apples, a farm tradition of the Appalachians, the South (where they are called “applejacks”) and the Midwest. The neat half-moon pies could then be packed in a lunchbox for midday eating in the fields or down in the mines.

The pies are virtually unchanged from the way they’ve been made in England for centuries. The adjoining recipe is nearly 350 years old and is pretty much the same as this one, which is par