Mini, Three-Bite Pies
Today’s recipe is the perfect way to use up fresh summer berries, hand-picked fall apples, or whatever frozen fruit you happen to have languishing in your freezer. With my buttery, flaky, completely from-scratch pie crust, I strongly feel that hand pies are even better than regular pie recipes thanks to their higher ratio of crust to filling. This recipe is quite similar to my apple turnovers and strawberry pop tarts, only differently shaped. We’re using my foolproof homemade pie crust and I have instructions for using berries, peaches, or apples, so I think I covered all the bases with all of the best pie-filling-fruits. I’m walking you through all of the steps with plenty of details, tips, photos, and a how-to video, so let’s get to it!
Ingredients
There are two main components to today’s hand pie recipe: the crust and the filling. Let’s cover the crust first:
Flour. Use all-purpose flour for best results. Butter. Use unsalted butter and make sure it’s very cold, the colder the better and the more flaky your resulting pie crust will be. I like to place mine in the freezer 15-20 minutes before I begin to prepare my crust. A pinch of sugar and salt add flavor to the crust, since the crust such a significant part of the hand pies you want to make sure it tastes good!Sour cream. This is my secret ingredient for a super easy, flaky, flavorful, and almost foolproof crust. No messing around with vodka or various amounts of ice water, my recipe lists exact amounts and perfect, flaky crust every time.
Next is the fruit filling. I’ve included instructions in the printable recipe to make either a berry or peach filling or an apple filling. Since apples have a different, more crisp texture and are less juicy they necessitated a slightly different cooking method for best results. With both recipes you need:
Fruit! For the apple filling, peel, core, and chop your apples. Keep the pieces tiny so they become tender while cooking and so they fit neatly into the hand pies. For the berry filling, use your favorite berries! If you’re using large berries (are your strawberries exceptionally monstrous?) you can chop them before cooking so they’ll neatly fit in the hand pies.Butter. A small bit of butter adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the hand pie filling. For the apple filling, the apples are cooked in the butter (you’re going to love how this smells!), while with the berry filling it is a finishing touch stirred in at the end.Cornstarch. This thickens the filling, you need a bit more with the juicy berry filling and less with the less-juicy apples.Sugar. Brown sugar beautifully complements the apple filling but would bully the berries, so we stick with granulated for that recipe.
You’ll also need an egg to make an egg wash to brush the dough (if you’re egg-free you can skip this, but it makes a slightly crisper and more golden crust) and a bit of powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk if you’d like to make my simple vanilla glaze for drizzling on top.
How to Make Hand Pie Dough
The first step to making perfect homemade hand pies is making the perfect homemade pie dough! Mine is easy (and if you’ve been hanging around here a while or ever made my blueberry pie or lattice pie crust, you’ve already made it once or twice!). SAM’S TIP: If you don’t have a food processor, this dough can be made with a grater or pastry cutter! Combine flour/sugar/salt in a bowl. Use a grater to grate the butter into the mixture or use a pastry cutter to cut it in. Then stir in the sour cream and proceed with the recipe as written. Note that this technique requires bit more manual effort, take care that the dough doesn’t become too warm!
How to Make Hand Pie Filling
While I walk through both the berry filling and the apple filling in the printable recipe below, I just covered the apple hand pie filling in the video. To make this filling: Once the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat, add a splash of vanilla (for apple hand pies only — vanilla complements the apples but overwhelms the flavor of the berries) and allow to cool completely before proceeding. You can speed up the cooling process by placing the filling in the fridge.
How to Assemble Hand Pies
If your dough becomes soft or difficult to manage at any point, you’ll want to pop it back in the fridge or even the freezer before baking. If making these on a hot day, it’s not a bad idea to freeze or refrigerate the assembled hand pies for 15-20 minutes before baking, just to ensure everything is as cold as possible! Enjoy!
More Recipes You Might Like
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
