Dessert empanadas? Hand pies? Mini turnovers? They are the chameleons of pastry. Week 21: Cherry Hand Pies

 

 

I have a soft spot for empanadas and hand pies – they fulfill my need for extra crust in a way that regular pie and quiches never can. The ratio of crust to filling means that the pastry better be able to stand alone in it’s deliciousness. It gives the crust a chance to prove itself. In this recipe, it has succeeded my expectations. I did an all butter crust so they turned out super flaky and rich. Mmm.

I decided to combine an obligation bake with my weekly bake, since I had a picnic-themed potluck at work this week. Hand pies popped to mind, since they are super portable and look adorable in picnic baskets. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the efficiency. Alright, back to the task at hand. (Hand [pie], get it?) I know I’m the only one giggling, it’s all good.

This recipe gets high marks for how simple and yummy it was. I made the dough and filling a day and a half ahead of time, and then woke up an hour early on the day of the picnic to put together and bake em. Made the apartment smell like a cherry butter happiness. The fresh pastry for breakfast was almost worth the early wake-up time. Almost.

 

 

I didn’t have enough of my lovely farmers’ market cherries left for the filling, so had to run to Safeway to find some. They were actually pretty good for supermarket fruit!

 

 

The key I’ve found to making shortcrust is super cold butter. I chunked mine and stuck it back in the fridge while I prepped the rest of the ingredients. I know that shortening works just as well in crust, but I love the butter flavor too much to swap it out!

 

 

This the the moment that I realized I need more counter space. Or less baking utensils.

 

 

I made a little Mt. Everest unintentionally with my sifter! Or it can be a Mt. Rainier (shout out to Mama Mountain!)

 

 

Left: dough with just the quarter cup of ice water added. It’s workable, but not ideal.

Right: dough with a liiittle extra ice water. The big hunks of dough coming together is exactly what I wanted. Bless food processors.

 

 

Oh hello, happy mound of dough! I used cinnamon sugar instead of just sugar, just for kicks. You can kinda see the little cinnamon freckles if you look closely enough.

 

 

The recipe calls for 1.5 lbs of cherries, but I forgot about the weight of the pits! I threw a few extra cherries in at the end to make up for it.

 

 

They see me rollin’…

 

 

Ah, the simple joy of a cookie cutter. The little crimps on the sides melt away when baking, but they sure are cute before they hit the oven!

 

 

I overfilled most of the little guys, mostly because I wanted at least two cherry halves in each one. #worthit

 

 

Voila! Before sauna, after sauna.

 

 

They look like little clamshells, about to pop open! 10 out of 10, would recommend. Happy munching!

 

Recipe from: http://www.notderbypie.com/sour-cherry-hand-pies-and-the-perfect-pie-crust/