How to make cherry hand pies from scratch

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.

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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

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