Peel the apples and dice them into a medium-sized bowl. Add the sugar and cinnamon to the apples and stir them with a wooden spoon to coat the apples in sugar.
Add the dash of salt, and stir the apples one more time. Set the apple pie filling aside.
Now you can move on to make the pie crust dough. In a large bowl, measure out the flour, salt, and sugar, stirring with a fork or a wire whisk to combine.
Add the shortening to the mixture and, using a fork, two knives, or a pastry blender, cut the shortening into the flour mixture.
Continue cutting it into the flour until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Carefully holding the ice back, drizzle about half of the cold water into the flour and shortening mixture.
Use a fork to stir the water into the flour mixture. When the water is mixed in, add some of the rest of the water about a tablespoon at a time, stirring briefly after each addition.
When the pie crust dough begins to ball up, sticking to itself and pulling away from the sides of the bowl, use your hands to gather the dough into a ball, pressing it gently so that it sticks together. Shape the dough into a disc.
Lightly flour a breadboard or a clean-scrubbed countertop. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the pie crust dough into a 14 to 16-inch circle. Use a lid, plate, or bowl as a template, cut rounds out of the pie crust dough. We used the lid of a sour cream container as our template, but anything that is round that is 4 to 6 inches in diameter will work.
After you’ve cut out the rounds, place 1 or 2 tablespoons of diced apples on half of the pie crust. Fold over the top half of the pie crust and crimp the edges to seal the hand pies. Make three or four hand pies so that you can cook them in batches.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan over medium heat. When the butter is all melted and just starting to sizzle, pick up the frying pan and rotate it to coat the bottom of the frying pan.
Place the hand pies in the frying pan and cook them until they are a light golden brown color on the bottom.
Using a slotted spatula, turn the pies over and fry them on the other side. When the pies are all cooked, remove them to a paper towel-lined platter to drain.
Press together the scraps of pie dough and re-roll them, cutting out more rounds and creating a second and third batch of hand pies. Fry them as directed above. Serve the hand pies while warm. You can sprinkle them with a bit of powdered sugar, if you like, before serving.