I’m having a moment with sour cherries. They never pop-up too much in LA. In Michigan, yes. But here, not so much. They’re pretty infrequent but OMG do I love them.
They’re the prettiest hue. Regular ol’ cherries, which I love, are usually much darker in hue, but sour cherries are the prettiest of pink. And their flavor! The perfect balance between tart and sweet. Sandwiched in between two pieces of flakey, buttery pie crust is a good move. A VERY good move.
Making hand pies is kind of a pain, I’m not going to lie. Baking up a big pie is much easier. There’s less rolling and cutting and assembling; it’s just simpler. Soooo, if you like, you can definitely use this pie crust and filling and make a gigantic pie. If you’re in the mood to put in more effort in the name of cute, then here we have hand pies.
Also, hand pies are the most ideal situation for a party. Everyone gets their own. Don’t you notice that people are always shy to take the first slice out of bit gigantic pie. They don’t want to ruin it! They don’t want to seem too eager. Everyone is trying to play it cool, always. When really they want to smash their face in the pie like the opening scene in Stand by Me.
That is by far the grossest pie scene to date in a movie and oddly it still makes me crave pie. Perhaps that means I’m disgusting. Who knows.
¯_(シ)_/
Ingredients
- Double Pie Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups 187g all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon 8g white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
- 2 sticks 226g unsalted butter, frozen
- 3/4 cups very cold water divided
- Filling for Hand Pies:
- 3/4 pound sour cherries pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a box grater, grate the cold butter atop the flour mixture. Working quickly, and using your hands, break the butter bits into the flour until they’re evenly distributed and resemble the size of small peas. Add 1/2 cup of and mix. The mixture will be shaggy at this point. From here, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the dough comes together. Flour your counter and dump the dough onto it. Knead a few times more until it comes together. Divide the dough, forming two discs. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight.
- Remove the discs of dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature for 10 minutes. Liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin. Begin to roll the dough, being sure to rotate it every so often to avoid sticking, to a 13-inch round. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can (I got about 6 the first time). Reroll the scraps so you get 2 to 4 more. Transfer the pie circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the refrigerator while you roll out the other disc of dough. Repeat the rolling and cutting out with the second disc of dough. If you like, you can make little cut outs with the tops of the hand pies. I used the opposite side of a piping tip to make circles. This allows steam to escape as well as provide a lil' style to the hand pies.
- To assemble the hand pies, remove the baking sheet with the pie circles from the refrigerator. Brush each bottom half with egg wash and drop a scant teaspoon of the cherry mixture into the center of each circle. Top with the circles that were just rolled out. Using the tines of a fork, go around each hand pies, pressing the edges together to seal them. If you like, you can use a paring knife to trim any uneven edges on the hand pies. (I did this. I wanted perfect circles, man!)
- Transfer the assembled hand pies to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, until very firm. While the hand pies are in the freezer, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
This was perfect! I added some chopped rosemary to the pie crust and the filling and it added a delightful element. Yum!
Oh my gosh…. This looks so amazing!!! I have to try this.
These are adorable. Definitely making! Pinned!
I wish I could find sour cherries around here. There seems to be only one farmer that has them at the market and he sells out instantly.
I love hand pies. They remind me of childhood.
I have been seeing a lot of recipes, particularly cherry pie recipes, calling for tapioca flour instead of corn starch. Is there a reason for this? Is it a better thickener? Can they be substituted one to one? Thanks!
not only are handpies a pain (kinda).. but its so easy to eat ’em all. I had a go at handpies a few months ago. It was a first with handpies and rhubarb.. too many new things and it was kind of a mess. but sour cherries? I know those. so well. these look delicious.
I can never get enough of sour cherries either. I try to trick myself that they are candy…
That sour cherry photo is so dreamy..
These are adorable. I think totally worth the extra effort!
ooh, it’s extra rolling and cutting, but i’ll take the mini hand pies over a big pie any day! it’s something about the ratio of crust to filling. oh and the fact that they’re handheld and CUTE!
YES! Good point! So much crust!
These are flippin’ adorable! These would last about, umm, 1.5 seconds in my house.
hahaha you’re right, a big pie is so much easier to make. but i am always (well, usually??) down to put in more effort in the name of cute food 🙂 and these little guys are too adorable!
These hand pies are total babes. Love the sour cherry flavour in there!
I love love love cherries! And everything with them 😀