Cherry hand pies are the perfect, portable summer treat. Pack them in lunches, take them to potluck dinners, freeze them for the cold months when you need a burst of summer. Like all of my fresh cherry recipes, these mini pies are made from sweet cherries. Made from scratch, they are a hand held remake of a childhood classic.
If you make a purchase through one of the affiliate links, I make a few pennies at no extra cost to you. Questions? Please see disclosure for info.
Cherry Hand Pies
Do you remember your favorite childhood treat? Mine was Hostess cherry pies. Cloyingly sweet cherry pie filling encased in a lackluster pastry shell coated with a cavity-inducing glaze of white icing.
To think of eating one now does absolutely nothing for me, but the 10 year old version of me would happy devour that sugar bomb.
I had a flashback to a childhood memory – walking into Floyd’s. It was a little store on the walk home from school, almost more of a lean-to it was so small.
There was an old, creaky, wooden screen door that would slap shut with a “thwack” every time you walked in, paint barely clinging to it. The floors resembled a patchwork quilt, tiles being replaced as needed, never all at once.
The cooler near the front hummed loudly as the compressor kicked on and off, a reminder of where he kept the frozen treats.
Rows of cans and boxes lined up, fluorescent lighting sputtering and buzzing above me. Being greeted by a gentle smile. My grandmother knew him and therefore, he knew us. I remember buying bazooka gum for a nickel in that little store. And Hostess cherry pies.
Handheld Cherry Pies
These portable packages would also be a perfect addition to a picnic basket or a summer gathering. Just stack them up on a plate and let people help themselves. No need for utensils, plates or clean-up, which in my opinion is the best thing about these hand pies.
They are little pockets of goodness. Everyone went wild for these cherry hand pies. They disappeared before I got a chance to snag one for myself.
How to Make Cherry Hand Pies
The first thing we have to do is make the dough for the crust. This will need to chill in the refrigerator for a bit, so it is the first step.
Slice the COLD butter. This is important. The butter must be cold, if it gets too warm, put it in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up again.
Zest your lemons and measure out the flour, then combine everything in a medium bowl.
Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until the pieces of butter are the size of a pea.
Make the filling
Step one in this is pitting cherries. It’s not too laborious, if you have a cherry pitter. I highly recommend getting one if you don’t own one. You can also use it for olives, so it does double duty.
Once you have the cherries pitted, chop them up and put them in a small pot to make your filling.
Roll out dough and assemble pies
You ‘ll need a rolling pin for this bit and my maple rolling dowel is the one I reach for. It works perfectly for rolling out crust and keeping everything even. You have to decide how big you want to make your hand pies. Choose a cutter of the appropriate size and cut out the dough. Make sure you have an even number – you’ll need 2 pieces per pie.
I made 2 different sizes so you could see the difference. It is only a slight difference in size, but it will change the number of pies you get out of the dough. Also, keep in mind that the dough shrinks a little while it is baking, so the pies will be just a smidge smaller after baking.
If you have kids who like to help in the kitchen, this is a great recipe to make with them. They can help you spoon the filling onto the dough discs, help with egg washing or sprinkling the tops with sugar.
More summertime recipes we’re enjoying right now: Mediterranean Orzo Salad / Strawberry Lemonade Iced Tea / No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Bars / Mint Chip Ice Cream from PCO
What do I need to make these?
• Round Cutters to cut out dough circles
• Fluted edge cutters are also a good thing to have
• Microplane to zest lemons
• Pastry brush for egg wash
Please share!
Your shares help this site to grow. Do you know someone who would like this? I’d love it if you would share it on Facebook or pin it to your favorite recipe board.
Your shares help this site to grow and I appreciate it so much. Do you know someone who would like this? I’d love it if you would share it on Facebook or pin it to your favorite recipe board.
Cherry Hand Pies
Your favorite childhood fruit pie gets a mini make-over with these cherry hand pies.
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 3 3/4 cups 470 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 12 ounces unsalted butter, very cold and cut into small pieces (3 sticks)
- 3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk
For the Egg Wash
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water.
- If you want to dust the top with sugar, you will also need sanding sugar or any coarse sugar.
- prepare egg wash, get out the pastry brush & set aside.
For the Cherry Filling
- 3 cups pitted cherries, roughly chopped (about 1 1/2 pounds whole cherries)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
- juice of half a lemon
Instructions
Make the dough
- Whisk together flour, zest, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of tiny peas.
- Gently stir in 3/4 cup buttermilk with a rubber spatula, mixing it until a bit of a mass forms, then knead it two or three times to form a ball.
- If it doesn’t come together, add remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does, then gently knead again. (I had to add all of the remaining 1/4 cup)
- Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days. (Life got in the way & mine was in there for 3 days... It was fine)
Make the Filling
- Combine the cherries, sugar and salt in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves.
- Increase heat slightly to bring to a simmer for 5 more minutes.
- In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in a few teaspoons of the cherry juice from the pot and stir until smooth.
- Pour the cornstarch mixture back into the pot and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 6 to 8 more minutes). Turn off heat and add lemon juice. Stir to combine.
- Transfer to a non-metal bowl and allow to cool.
Assembly Line
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Generously flour the counter top, then unwrap one of your disks of dough. Gently begin rolling it out, starting from the center and pushing outward. The dough will be pretty firm when you begin, so be patient, but it will warm quickly... so not too patient!
- Keep rolling from the center out, turning the dough as you go, until it is about 1/8 inch thick. If the butter in the dough begins to get too warm and it starts to stick to the pin or gets goopy, slide it onto a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up again.
- Once dough is rolled out, cut out with a 2 1/2 - 3 inch cutter, whatever shape you have, or use a knife and cut into squares. I only had a round cutter of the appropriate size, so that's what I used.
- Lightly brush half of your circles or squares with the egg wash, taking care to get the edges, cut vents in the center of the other half of your circles/squares. Place 1 rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of the egg washed halves and top with the vented pieces. (don't overfill!) Seal with your fingertips or press with a fork along the edges.
- Brush with the egg wash on top and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Chill in refrigerator before baking if dough begins to get mushy. Repeat with remaining disk of dough, filling, etc.
- Place on baking sheet 1 - 2 inches apart and bake for 15 - 18 minutes until golden and puffed.
- Cool on wire rack.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
30Serving Size:
1 hand pieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 183Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 156mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 1gSugar: 7gProtein: 3g
Nutrition was calculated using a third party company and is intended only as a guideline.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a delicious day 🙂
Questions? Send me an email, I’m happy to help. I’d love to send you weekly tips and recipes, so you can get updates about what’s happening in the kitchen!
Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my photos or recipe without prior written permission. Thank you!
What a beautiful recipe to go with your brand new, beautiful site, Cheryl! *squeee* 🙂
Thanks Becca! I have to look at the “comment” box and see the difference between posting it to FB and just commenting on the blog! Thank you for pointing that little tidbit out to me!
Oh wow! Those are so cute. Great job!!
Hello! Can I make the filling the day before? or will that change the consistency? Thank you! I’ve got my dough in the fridge and plan to serve them tomorrow! Also, as it is still technically winter, the only cherries I could find was a can of pitted dark cherries in a sugar syrup. I was planning to rinse them and use those. Should I change the amount of sugar in your recipe? Thank you!
Hi Lauren! I would definitely rinse the sugar syrup off, or at least drain them really well. I’ve made them with frozen cherries before, but never canned cherries. It should be fine, but you might want to cut the sugar just a bit to offset the syrup. Even if you rinse the cherries, they have been sitting in sugar syrup, so they’ll be sweeter than fresh cherries. Please let me know how they turn out! (I’d love the feedback on using canned cherries, as I’m sure that might be all some people can find any time of the year in certain areas.) Thank you!! 🙂
Thank you for getting back to me so fast! I was not sure what to expect! I was kind of under a time crunch so I actually looked at the can and they had a website with recipes so I checked it out. They have a cherry pie filling recipe. But I did mix it with yours a bit and basically blended the two! But the canned cherries were fine! They actually weren’t overly sweet! So I think your amount of sugar would work fine! And they came already pitted! So that was a bonus! The brand I found was Oregon Fruit Products. Good to know there are ways to have cherries all year round! Thank you again for getting back to me so soon!
I’m so glad they turned out well! Yay!!!
Hello! I would like to make this recipe but the cherries are not quite in season yet. You mentioned in an earlier comment that you have used frozen cherries before. How have you adjusted this recipe if using frozen? Thanks!
Hi Valerie! You don’t need to adjust the recipe, just make sure that the frozen cherries are thawed and drained really well. Sometimes frozen fruit can get a bit soggy after it’s thawed. Let me know how they turn out! 🙂
Thank you so much for your SPEEDY response! My 2 and 4 year old sons just earned a reward after filling a jar for their positive behavior. My 4 year old wants to celebrate by making cherry pie! Haha! Your recipe looks perfect to be able to bake with them!
Oh my gosh! How great is that?! I hope you all love these little cherry pies! Please let me know how they turn out! And hooray for the little ones!! 🙂