One of my absolute favorite desserts is a fruit hand pie. I would take one of those over cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, or chocolate, anyway of the week. I remember when I was a child, they used to have these little hand pies at the gas station… Hone Run Pies.. maybe you remember them. They were certainly laden with all things processed, but the sweet fruit filling, flakey crust, and that icing sugar glaze on top, oh my goodness it was a good day if I got one of those!
So now as an adult with children of my own, I’m still a sucker for fruit hand pies, but I’ve thankfully learned to make them myself, hopefully creating a sweet memory for my own little ones. Daphne and I made these ones with little heart cut outs to share with friends for Valentine’s day!
Blueberry hand pies
Equipment
- 1 food processor
- 2 baking sheets
- 1 saucepan
- 1 4 inch biscuit cutter
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 sticks butter I use salted
- 1/4 cup iced water give or take
Blueberry filling
- 4 cups frozen blueberries
- 1 lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar raw cane or coconut sugar works too!
- 3 tbs corn starch
Icing
- 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup raw cream
Instructions
- Make the crust first, at least 2 hours before you'll want to use it, or you can even make it and freeze it for easy grab and use! To make the crust, add your flour into a food processor. Cut your butter into small cubes and add on top. Add sugar and salt. Pulse a few times to get a sand like consistency, then slowly add in iced water, 1 tbs at a time, pulsing as you add it, until the dough just comes together. Then dump it out onto plastic wrap, and wrap into a disc. Place in the fridge for at least two hours, or freeze.
For the blueberry filling
- Add your frozen blueberries, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium size saucepan, and cook on medium until the juices start to come out of the berries. After about 5 minutes when you notice lots of juice, add in your corn starch and stir for another 5 minutes, or until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Then take off the heat and set aside to use for your pies.
Assembling the pies
- Preheat the oven to 400. Flour your countertop and remove your pie crust from the fridge (or let thaw for about an hour if frozen). Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Use your 4 inch biscuit cutter to make two rounds per pie (top and bottom). To assemble, place the bottom round on parchment lined baking sheet, spoon about a tablespoon of pie filling into the center, use an egg wash (1 raw + 1 tsp milk), and dip your finger in and run it along the outside of the round. Take your top round and cut out a little heart (or use cookie cutter), and remove the heart to let the filling show through. Add the top round and seal with a fork. Use the egg wash along the top of the pies with a pastry brush. Finish making all your pies, and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Then put on a cooling rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before icing.
For icing glaze
- Add powdered sugar to a bowl. Add vanilla and cream. Whisk together until combined. To glaze the pies, wait until they are cool, then I just dip the tops in the icing and kind of swirl to the side and up and if gives a nice coverage on top! Then, if we can make it, I like to wait about 30 minutes for the icing to set before eating them all up!
Can you replace the blueberries with strawberries or raspberries or another berry? If so, would the recipe be the same?
Yep! We have done different berries and they are all great! I would just use frozen with this particular recipe since it depends on the juices released when thawing!