How to make cherry hand pies from scratch
Cherry hand pies are the perfect, portable summer treat. Homemade cherry filling inside delicious buttery pastry makes the perfect hand-held pie. Pack them in lunches, take them to potluck dinners, freeze them for the cold months when you need a burst of summer. These mini pies are made from scratch using sweet cherries.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my fresh cherry scones and my cherry chutney recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my cherry recipes in one place.
Pook’s Pantry participates in affiliate programs. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I may earn a small commission. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
Cherry hand pie recipe
Cherries are in peak season in June, so it is a great time to bake a batch of these hand pies. Because they disappear so quickly, I often make a double batch to freeze for later when I want a sweet treat when cherry season is over.
What you need to know
This recipe make 2 and a half dozen cherry hand pies, making them perfect for gatherings. They are perfect for summer holidays – from Memorial Day though Labor Day, you can celebrate all of the red, white and blue holidays with these treats.
These simple hand held pies are one of our favorite summer treats. They are not hard to make, but they do require a bit of planning – the crust and the filling will both need time to cool and rest before assembling the pies.
I live in a very warm and humid climate, neither of which works well with making pastry. That being said, this pie dough is so simple. It is much easier to work with than regular pie crust and more forgiving. If the dough starts to get sticky, put it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up again.
Ingredients
To make these mini cherry hand pies, you’ll need some pantry basics and about a pound of cherries.
- Flour – Provides structure for the dough. You can’t have a crust without it.
- Lemon – We’ll use the zest in the crust and the juice in the filling.
- Sugar – Regular granulated sugar sweetens both the crust and the filling.
- Buttermilk – Provides moisture and makes a tender crust.
- Salt – All baked goods need salt.
- Butter – Cold, unsalted butter for the crust.
- Egg – Used for the egg wash to seal the pies and brush the tops.
- Cherries – The base of the filling. I used sweet Bing cherries.
- Cornstarch – This helps to thicken the cherry filling.
How to make
Here’s a quick summary of how to make cherry hand pies. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
Make the filling
This is something you can do ahead of time. The filling needs to be completely cooled before assembling the pies.
- 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. I set up a little work station for myself to keep everything contained.
- Once you have the cherries pitted, chop them up and put them in a small pot to make your filling. The filling cooks quickly, then set it aside to cool.
Make the dough & fill the pies
The dough for the crust will need to chill in the refrigerator. You can make this a day of ahead of time, if needed.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
- Cut cold butter into the flour, using a pastry blender until the pieces of butter are no bigger than the size of a pea.
- Add buttermilk and stir to combine until all of the flour is incorporated. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap /cling film and refrigerate.
- Roll out the dough, cut the dough out using round cutters.
- Egg wash the edges to seal the pies once they are filled. Cut vents in half of the circles of dough – those will be the tops.
- Place a spoonful of cherry filling in the center. Be careful not to overfill – they will leak if too full.
- Carefully place a vented pastry circle on top, and press the edges with a fork to seal.
Cherry hand pies FAQ’s
You can store the hand pies at room temperature for a couple of days, but refrigeration is recommended for longer storage.
If you want to make the filling and the dough ahead of time, then assemble pies at a later date, you can store them (separately) in airtight containers for up to 3 months.
Storage / Freezing Information
To store: Cherry hand pies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To freeze: Store hand pies in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Variations and Substitutions
- Blueberry – Swap out cherries to make blueberry mini pies.
- Frozen cherries – If cherries aren’t in season, you can use frozen cherries. Thaw them and drain well before using.
Serving suggestions
These portable packages would 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.
Helpful tools and equipment
- Heavy duty sheet pans that hold up to high temps without warping.
- Parchment paper sheets are MUCH easier to use than tearing pieces off of a roll.
Please share
If you love this recipe, please give it 5 stars!
I hope you love this cherry hand pies recipe as much as we do! Please consider rating and/or commenting.
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
Equipment
- OXO Good Grips Cherry Pitter
- J.K. Adams Maple Plain Rolling Pin
- Plain Edge Round Cutters
- Sparkling Coarse Sanding Sugar
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 450g
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 12 ounces unsalted butter, cold cut into small pieces or grated / 3 sticks / 339g
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the Egg Wash
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water.
For the Cherry Filling
- 2 cups sweet cherries, pitted roughly chopped, 410g (you'll need about 1 pound whole cherries)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Make the dough
- Whisk together flour, lemon zest, sugar, and salt in a large mixing 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 it starts to come together.If it doesn’t come together, and it still looks a bit dry and shaggy, add remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does, then gently knead to form a ball. *I had to add all of the remaining 1/4 cup of buttermilk.
- 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.
Make the Filling
- Combine the pitted and chopped cherries, lemon juice, sugar and salt in a medium pot over medium low heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves.
- Increase heat slightly to bring to a simmer, then cook for 5 additional minutes.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of the cherry juice from the pot and stir until smooth.
- SLOWLY pour the cornstarch mixture back into the pot, while stirring constantly. *the cornstarch will clump if you pour it in quickly without whisking or stirring it in. Cook until thickened, about 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Assembly Line
- Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C 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 3 inch cutter, or use a knife or a pizza wheel and cut into squares.
- 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, taking care not to overfill. Press it in place with your fingertips, then seal 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. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Cook time includes an hour of resting time for dough. Active time is approximately 45 minutes.
- If you want to sprinkle the top with sugar, you will need sanding sugar or any coarse sugar like demerara.
- If you are making these on an especially warm and/or humid day, remember to slide the dough back into the fridge when it begins to get sticky, or too slack.
- You’ll want to use a large mixing bowl to make the dough – You need room to work in the bowl, and a bowl that is too small will make it more difficult.
- They are a hand held remake of a classic childhood treat – Hostess pies. If you prefer to make a sugar coating like Hostess cherry pies have, combine powdered sugar and water or milk until you have a fairly thin glaze. Brush or drizzle glaze over pies while they are warm, then allow the glaze to dry fully.
- I made the dough recipe twice – once with inexpensive store-brand butter (Costco) and once with Kerrygold Irish butter. The dough actually turned out MUCH better with the cheaper butter! Don’t be tempted to use your higher fat butter here.
Nutrition
Buy me a coffee? If you ever wondered how you can lend a hand, show a little support or just say “thanks” for the recipes? You can “buy me a coffee” to help me keep the free recipes coming.
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 (other than for personal use) without prior written permission. Thank you!
Originally published 7/8/19, most recent update 6/30/25.
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!! 🙂
Sweet or sour cherries or does it matter?
Hi Sharon, I made the recipe with sweet cherries. Sour cherries aren’t as readily available everywhere, but if you have access to them and want to give it a go, go for it 🙂