I get so excited when I see cherries at my local market, because it means that summer is officially here! I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world with oodles of fresh and local flowers, veggies and fruit. I might be biased, but I think that BC cherries are absolutely the best - plump, juicy and ever so sweet!
Pie is usually a summer fruit go-to dessert, but this year I decided to shake things up and create a two-bite pie treat. You don't need to feel guilty eating these mini pies, they're just the right size to have 1 or 2 or 3 even ;).
I like to use fresh fruit in pies, not pre-made jar pie filling, so I'm not going to lie, investing in a cherry pitter is well worth your time. I purchased the OXO Olive/Cherry Pitter a few years ago and can't imagine not having one now. You can use a knife to remove the pits, it's just quite a labourious and messy job without a pitter.
I've had some mini cherry pie cutters from William Sonoma for a few years and thought they would add a bit of eye-candy to these little pies. It's a great way to use your pie dough scraps and it's pretty cute if I do say so myself! You can use any cookie cutters though, to add decoration to your hand pies and regular-sized pies too.
This recipe would also be great for Valentine's Day. Fresh cherries won't be in season, but you can use frozen. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the dough and you've got heart hand pies to share with those you love.
Whether you make them now or for Valentine's Day, Happy Summer!
Enjoy,
Krista
Cherry Hand Pies
Ingredients
Dough
I had a few discs of dough in the freezer that I made using the Tenderflake recipe on the box, just like Grandma used to do. You can any fruit pie dough recipe you like for these hand pies.
Filling
2 pounds cherries, pitted (about 2 cups)
2 teaspoons lemon juice & the zest of 1/2 a lemon
pinch salt
1/2 c sugar
2-3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Finishing
1 egg, whisked, for wash
2 tablespoons turbinado or raw sugar
Method
Dough - make according to your favourite recipe or the Tenderflake box.
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cherries, lemon juice and zest, salt, sugar, arrowroot powder and almond extract together and let stand for 20 minutes to combine.
Remove dough from fridge and on to a floured surface, roll dough into a large circle, 1/2-inch thickness. Using a 4-inch circle cutter (glass, cookie cutter, hand pie mold, etc.) cut out circles. Place circles spaced 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet (reserve any extra dough scraps for decorative cherry and leaf cut-outs, using small pie or cookie cutters). Leaving a small border around the edge of the dough circle, fill each bottom half with 2 tablespoons of cherry filling. It's important not to over-fill the hand pies or they leak. Using a brush, gently brush egg wash around the edges/border of your circle and fold the top half down to meet the bottom half, gently pressing along the edges to seal. The egg wash should "glue" the hand pie together, however I like to go the extra step and use a fork to crimp the edges to ensure no leaking.
Lightly egg wash entire hand pie and drizzle tops with turbinado sugar. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut three small lines in the top of the pie to vent.
Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
*If you are making hearts, you will need even numbers of heart cut-out shapes - one for the top and one for the bottom. I like to cut out a smaller heart to vent the hand pie, instead of lines.
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