Cherry Hand Pies

4.65 from 17 votes

Your favorite childhood fruit pie gets a mini make-over with these cherry hand pies.

Prep Time24

Cook Time20

Chilling Time1

Total Time1 44

Course: Pies and Tarts

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 183kcal

Author: Cheryl Bennett

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.