Homemade Cherry Hand Pies

Hand pies are the perfect alternative to a full pie because they are easy to store, easy to eat and perfect picnic food. The most well-known hand pies are those you can purchase in the store by a major manufacturer, individually wrapped, and tasting more like jelled fruit.

These are a flaky crust that’s bursting with lightly sweetened fresh fruit. I like to make these when I first spot sweet cherries in the market.

I used a hand pie mold {shown above} but if you don’t have one, it’s easy enough to find something {a bowl, cutter, etc} around the house that will cut a 6″ circle. ?You can then use a fork to crimp the edges.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Pie Crust {or you can use your favorite single-crust recipe}:

8 3/4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 ?teaspoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup ice water

Pie Filling:
2 cups sweet cherries, washed, pitted and quartered

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

coarse sparkling sugar {for the tops} or additional 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

 

To Make:

Pie Crust: ?Dice the butter and vegetable shortening and return to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. ?Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. ?Add the butter and shortening. ?Pulse 8-12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. ?With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. ?Dump out on a floured surface and roll into a ball. ?Wrap in plastic wrap and let dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. ?Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners.

Pie Filling: ?Once the crust has been refrigerated, prepare the filling. ?In a medium pan over medium heat, stir together the cherry quarters and sugar for 10 minutes, or until cherries break down slightly. ?Turn off the heat, and with the pan still on the burner stir in the flour and salt. ?Remove from heat and allow to cool while the crust is resting.

Putting it all together: ?On a lightly floured surface roll out the pie crust to about 1/8 inch thick. ?Cut out 6 inch circles. ?Continue to re-roll the scraps until all pie crust dough has been used.

Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon {add a bit more if needed} to one side of each circle and fold the other half of the circle over, allowing edges to meet. ?Dip a fork in water and carefully crimp edges. ?Be careful the filling does not seep out of the dough.

Transfer the hand pies to the prepared baking sheets, as you crimp them, sprinkle tops with water {to help the sugar adhere} ?and a pinch of sparkling or granulated sugar. ?Gently pierce the top of the pies with fork tines a couple of times for steam vents, ensuring the vent doesn’t go through to the bottom crust.

Bake the pies for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Remove baking sheet from oven to cooling rack and allow hand pies to cool 2-4 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool further.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Store in a sealed container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Makes approx. 10 hand pies