These are cute hand held pies with a little more focus on the buttery and flaky crust than the pie filling. My favorite flavor is blueberry but you can use any flavor of pie filling you want.
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
- Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine.
- Sprinkle the cold butter over the flour in the food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks crumbly with large pea-sized chunks of butter.
- Drizzle the apple cider vinegar over top. Turn the machine on and immediately start drizzling cold water through the feed tube. Stop the machine once the mixture starts to come together and looks shaggy. Give the dough the pinch test- if it sticks together, it's ready to go. If not, turn the machine on again and drizzle in a bit more water. You might not need all of the water. You want a shaggy dough, not a cohesive ball.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and form each into a flat disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes or for up to 2 days. Do Ahead: The wrapped disks can be placed in freezer bags and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using. If the dough has been in the fridge for several hours, let it sit at room temperature until slightly softened, about 10-20 minutes.
- Line two baking sheet pans with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Trim the sides as needed. With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into equal sizes of desired shape and size.
- Place half of the cut pieces onto a prepared baking sheet. The hand pies will not spread much in the oven, so you may place them near one another. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator.
- Repeat this with the 2nd disc of dough to make the same amount of cut pieces. Place each of the cut pieces onto the second baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg with one tablespoon of water to make the egg wash.
- Assemble the hand pies: Remove 1 baking sheet of pastry pieces from the refrigerator. These will be the bottoms of your hand pies. With a pastry brush, brush egg wash over the entire surface of each piece. Place a tablespoon of the blueberry pie filling into the center of each piece and spread it around with the back of a spoon, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edges. Remove the 2nd baking sheet of pastry pieces from the refrigerator. These will be the tops of your hand pies. Brush egg wash over the entire surface of each piece, then place each top piece, egg-wash-side-down, on the filling-topped bottoms. Use your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Reserve remaining egg wash. Using a knife, make a slit in the tops of each filled pastry to allow the steam to escape. (Or, cut a decorative shape out of the top pastry before placing on the jam filled pastry.) Seal the edges tightly by crimping with a fork. Refrigerate the filled hand pies, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Once the unbaked hand pies have chilled for 20 minutes, remove from the refrigerator and brush the tops with the remaining egg wash. If desired, sprinkle sparkling sugar over the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Let the hand pies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
Notes
If you prefer to not use gluten free flour, you can substitute all purpose flour using the same measurement.
If you don’t have a food processor you can make this dough by hand. Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add the cold butter cubes. Using your fingers (or a pastry cutter), rub the butter into the flour mixture, toss and smashing it until it’s incorporated but you still see larger pea sized chunks. Drizzle in the apple cider vinegar and cold water, then toss with a fork until the dough comes together. From there you can turn it out onto a floured piece of parchment paper as indicated in the recipe.
You can substitute the blueberry pie filling with any flavor of pie filling you desire.
