Assorted Hand Pies

I love baking pies, it might be my favorite thing to bake but I have never made a hand pie… I guess it was time! I used my own pie crust recipe and found three separate fillings to play around with. I chose a blackberry, coconut custard and a peach filling. I cut each of these filling recipes in half but the original recipes to each of those fillings are linked at the bottom of the page.

My opinion about these hand pies is really not positive at all. Yes they are cute, yes they are good for pictures. But they took WAY too long to make, WAY too tedious to make sure the filling doesn’t escape during baking and honestly they were not very tasty. I am a fan of the ratio of a typical pie, whereas the hand pies had too much pie crust in relation to filling.

Directions:

For the Blackberry Filling:

1. Add blackberries and granulated sugar to a small saucepan.
2. Cook berries over medium, mashing with the back of a wooden spoon until they start to break down and release their juices – about 2 minutes.
3. In small bowl, whisk cornstarch and lemon juice.
4. Add cornstarch mixture and lemon zest to berries, stir until smooth.
5. Cook 2-3 minutes more until filling begins to thicken.
6. Remove from heat, transfer to bowl and let cool.

For the Coconut Custard Filling:

1. In medium saucepan, heat milk and extracts over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat.
   • It is extremely important to whisk constantly during the next few steps otherwise the egg could curdle. If that happens, I recommend remaking it.
2. In medium bowl, whisk egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add ¼ cup of hot milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking constantly.
3. Add egg mixture to remaining hot milk mixture in the saucepan. Whisk to combine.
4. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened – about 5-7 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and butter until the butter is melted.
6. Pour into clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap pressing it directly onto the surface of the custard to prevent a film from forming.
7. Refrigerate at least one hour before using.

For the Peach Filling:

1. Peel and dice peaches into ½ inch pieces. Place in large bowl and add granulated sugar, toss to combine. Cover the bowl and set aside for an hour.
2. Drain the juice into a small saucepan, set aside the peaches.
3. Whisk in corn starch, cinnamon and salt.
4. Cook over medium heat until the syrup boils. Whisk constantly for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice and peaches, let cool.

Pie Dough and Assembly:

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening using a pastry cutter. Add water one tablespoon at a time until a dough ball is formed.
   • I will use the pastry cutter for the first 2 tablespoons on water but once it gets sticky, I use my hands, if you have warm hands you may want to be careful and refrigerate dough as needed. You want it to be as cold as possible (the colder the dough stays, the flakier the crust will be!)
2. Divide in half, create disc, cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Prepare baking sheet.
   • I used Amazon Basics silicone baking mats and the NordicWare bakers half sheet.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to ⅛ inch thickness. Using a 4-inch round cutter, cut dough, rerolling scraps as necessary.
   • I used a biscuit cutter, it worked just fine!
5. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling onto bottom half of each round. Brush edges of dough with egg. Add top round and press edges with a fork to seal.
6. Transfer to prepared pans. Cut vents on top of each and brush tops with egg.
   • So I would remember which hand pie was which filling, I cut different types of vents for each filling. Coconut Custard had no vent, Blackberry had 3 vents and Peach had one large vent.
7. Bake until golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

The gallery below shows step-by-step photos of my baking process.

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