Blueberry Hand Pies
Luscious blueberry filling inside flaky, buttery pastry that fits in your hand. Filling recipe adapted from Erin McDowell's Mixed Berry Hand Pie Recipe in The Book On Pie.
Servings: 20 pies
Equipment
- 3-inch cookie cutter
- Rolling Pin
- Medium saucepan
- 2 half-sheet pans
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
Pastry
- 3 3/4 c flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 T granulated sugar
- 3 sticks (12 oz/24 T) butter, cold, cut into 1/4-in pieces
- 1/2 c ice water
- 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
Blueberry Filling
- 12 oz blueberries
- 1 T lemon juice
- 1/4 c granulated sugar
- 2 T corn starch
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- zest of 1/2 lemon
Egg Wash & Topping
- 1 large egg
- 1 T water
- Coarse sanding sugar or Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top, optional
Instructions
Pastry
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Toss in the butter pieces, making sure they're all covered in flour. Using your hands, squeeze the butter pieces into the flour until they are all about the size of walnut halves. Then drizzle in the water and vinegar a little at a time, stirring gently with a fork until the mixture looks like a shaggy mess - ha:) Really though, it won't look very promising at this stage, but don't add more moisture (at least not yet). Gather it all into a ball, pressing gently. At this point, if it won't come together, add more water a tablespoon at a time until it does. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled dough to about 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Fold the dough in half, then in half again. Re-wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Repeat this process one more time, then chill for at least 30 minutes more before using. The folding process produces insanely flaky pastry (look at those layers!) — don't skip this step.(Note: You can stop at this point and continue the next day, if desired)
Blueberry Filling
- Combine the blueberries and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, or until the berries begin to break down and get juicy.
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Add to the berries and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. The filling should be getting thick at this point. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Put it all together
- Mix up your egg wash by whisking together the egg and water until well-combined. Set aside.
- Line 2 half sheet pans (or cookie sheets) with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the pie dough to about 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Use a 3-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut circles from the dough. You should get 15-20 circles. (Note: you can re-roll the pie dough scraps to cut more circles, but note that those won't bake up quite as thick and flakey...they'll still be delicious though)Transfer half of the rounds to one of the prepared pans.
- Spoon a little less than 1 T of the pie filling into the center of each round. Using a pastry brush, brush a little egg wash along the edges of each round. Then top with another dough round and seal the edges by crimping with a fork. Repeat with the rest of your dough and filling, then refrigerate the pies while the oven preheats.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Once oven is up to temperature, pull the pies out of the refrigerator and brush the tops with egg wash (don't egg wash the edges though — they'll brown up just fine on their own). Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired, then use a sharp knife to cut an "X" into the top of each pie.
- Bake pies until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
