Hand Pie Dough Recipes

HAND PIES RECIPE

Steps:

• Place flour, salt, and cold butter pieces into the bowl of your stand mixer and blend on low until mixture resembles coarse sand.
• Add in your egg and just enough water to bring the mixture together
• Press into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for one hour.
• Prepare your fresh fruit by chopping into small cubes (if needed) or use frozen fruit. No need to defrost.
• Place your fruit and butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and bubbling.
• Add in your water (or juice), sugar, lemon juice, and salt and mix until combined. Bring to a simmer.
• Combine your ClearGel with your water and whisk to make a slurry. Pour into your simmering mixture and mix for 1-2 minutes to cook the gel. If you're using cornstarch, you only need to cook until it's clear.
• Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.
• Preheat your oven to 400ºF and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper
• Let your dough stand at room temperature for 15 minutes to let it soften a bit
• Dust your surface with flour. Begin by pressing your dough with your rolling pin to start flattening it.
• Roll your dough out to 1/8 thick or about the thickness of a cake board. Thinner than you think. Thinner dough results in a crisper, crunchier crust for your hand pies.
• Cut your dough into 6" circles. I used a 6" cake board as a template or you can use a 5" circle cutter if you want smaller hand pies.
• Fill your 6" hand pie with 3 tablespoons of fruit filling (5" circles take 1 heaping Tablespoon). Do not overfill.
• Brush the outside edge with egg wash (one egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of cold water)
• Fold the hand pie over and crimp with a fork to seal well
• Use a knife or fork to make some vents on top
• Brush the hand pies with more egg wash and place them onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Chill for 20 minutes.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes. They should be golden brown and the filling will just be starting to bubble.
• Let your hand pies cool for 10 minutes.
• While your hand pies are cooling, make your glaze. Just whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth.
• Use a pastry brush to brush the thin glaze over the hand pies and enjoy!
• These hand pies taste best the day they are baked but will last for three days in an airtight container in the fridge or frozen for up to 2 months.

PIE DOUGH FOR HAND PIES

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter, pulsing until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Add water, pulsing until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary add up to 2 tablespoons water). Divide dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days).

CHERRY HAND PIES

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, whisk 4 tablespoons water, sugar, brandy, cornstarch, lemon juice, tapioca, lemon zest and salt until combined. Add cherries. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool., Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough to a 14x9-in. rectangle. Cut out eight 3-1/2 x 4-1/2-in. rectangles. Repeat with remaining dough. , Transfer 8 rectangles to parchment-lined baking sheets; spoon about 3 tablespoons cherry mixture in center of each. Whisk egg and remaining 2 tablespoons water. Brush edges of crust with egg wash. Top with remaining 8 rectangles; press edges with a fork to seal. Brush tops with egg wash; cut slits in tops., Bake until crust is golden brown and slightly puffed, 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine confectioners' sugar, hot water, melted butter, extracts and salt; drizzle over pies. Garnish with freeze-dried strawberries if desired. Let stand until set.

MALIBU BERRY HAND PIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• For the dough: Add the flour, granulated sugar and salt to a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until mealy. Combine the water and vinegar in a liquid measuring cup; slowly drizzle into the flour mixture with the food processor running until the dough begins to become homogeneous-do not overmix. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and press into a disc. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• For the filling: Meanwhile, combine the berries, 1/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and salt in a medium heatproof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to let the berries macerate, about 30 minutes.
• Transfer the macerated berries along with the juices to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, combine the Zinfandel and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk together, breaking up any clumps. Add to the berries and cook until thickened, another 5 minutes or so. Transfer the filling to the medium heatproof bowl; add the lemon zest, butter, almond extract and remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and toss to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool in the fridge.
• For the assembly: Divide the dough into 10 even pieces. Roll each piece into a round 5 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Keep the dough covered with plastic wrap as you work with 1 round at a time. Whisk the egg, salt and 1 tablespoon water. Brush around the edge of a dough round and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the filling to one side of the round, leaving 1/2 inch of the dough empty at the edge. Fold the round in half over the filling to create a half-moon shape, crimp the edges with a fork to seal then trim off any excess dough.
• Place all the pies on the prepared baking sheet and brush with more of the egg wash. Sprinkle with sanding sugar if using. Bake pies until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees halfway through baking. Transfer the pies to a wire rack to cool.

PEACH HAND PIES

Steps:

• Combine the peaches, water, vanilla seeds and pod, granulated sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until syrupy and the peaches are soft and just beginning to break down, 12 to 18 minutes. (Add more water if the mixture is too thick.) Discard the vanilla pod and mash the peaches; let cool.
• Preheat the oven to 425˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gather the pie dough into 2 small compact squares; roll out each into a 12-inch square. Cut each in half, then cut each half into thirds to make twelve 4-by-6-inch rectangles.
• Arrange 6 rectangles on the baking sheet and top each with 3 tablespoons of the peach compote. Cover each with another rectangle of dough; crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Cut a small vent into the center of each top; brush with the beaten egg. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

HAND PIE DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix.
• Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or two knives in a crosscutting motion until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Work quickly so the butter remains cool and doesn't melt into the flour.
• Combine the egg yolk and the 3 tablespoons ice water and stir to mix. Add to the flour mixture and stir with a fork just until the dough clumps together and is just moist enough to pat together. Do not mix any more than necessary. If the dough is dry and crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, just until the dough comes together; do not add so much water that the dough becomes wet or sticky.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and, with lightly floured hands, form into a ball. Divide the dough in half and form each piece into a flat disk. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or for up to 3 days, before proceeding with the recipe.
• Give these pies an extra kick of spice by stirring 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger into the sweet potato filling along with the other spices. You can also make these hand pies with different fillings, like baked pumpkin, butternut squash, apples, or peaches.