Is there anything better than fresh cherries in the summer? These fresh cherry hand pies are the perfect way to enjoy juicy, plump cherries without altering your precious fruit too much. Pro tip: use a glass bottle and reusable straw to put your cherries. Position the cherry on top of the bottle where you’d drink from, and use the straw to push the pit through the cherry and into the bottle.
Cherry Hand Pies
Ingredients
CRUST
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons Diamond kosher salt or 1 teaspoon
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 8 pieces
- ½ cup plus up to 4 Tablespoons ice water
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
CHERRY PIE FILLING
- 6 cups pitted and halved red Cherries*
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon almond or coconut extract
- zest of lemon
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- turbinado sugar
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and diced butter, sugar and salt. Pulse to form pebble-sized crumbs. Transfer the flour mixture to a large bowl. Add ½ cup of the ice water and apple cider vinegar and stir gently with a fork. Add additional Tablespoons of water one at a time as needed, until the dough can hold together when gently pressed between your fingers, using only as much water as needed. Do not over-mix.
- Divide the dough into two pieces, place a large sheet of plastic wrap on the counter, and pour half the dough onto it. Form the dough into a disk and tightly wrap with the surrounding plastic wrap. Repeat with the remaining half. Chill for 30-60 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F with the rack positioned on the bottom.
- Meanwhile, make the pie filling. In a large bowl gently toss together the pitted and halved cherries, sugar, cornstarch, almond or coconut extract, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, and kosher salt. Set aside until ready to assemble the hand pies.
- After the dough is chilled, generously flour a work surface. Whisk both of the eggs in a small glass to create the egg wash. Take one half of the dough, remove the plastic wrap, and using a rolling pin, roll it into a 12 x 14 inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle into half lengthwise, and then two times crosswise, creating 6 equal rectangles. Using a basting brush, baste the edges of each rectangle of dough.
- Use a slotted spoon to spoon the cherry mixture into a ⅓ cup measurer. Carefully pour the measured ⅓ cup amount of cherries into the middle of each rectangle. Form each of the hand pies by folding the dough onto itself and forming a smaller rectangle with the filling in the center, so that the edges of dough line up. Gently press the dough together, then use a fork to crimp the edges. If desired, use a pizza cutter to tidy up the edges of the hand pies.
- Transfer the hand pies to a parchment-lined baking sheet (you’ll likely need two of them) and use the remaining egg wash to coat the tops of the hand pies, and sprinkle with a generous amount of turbinado sugar. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the hand pies are golden brown both on the top and the bottom. Let cool slightly before serving.
Notes
*6 cups of fresh sweet cherries should be roughly 2 lbs of cherries when measured before pitting, and 1.5 lbs after pitting. To easily remove the pits, place the cherry on top of a glass soda bottle, and use a firm plastic or metal reusable straw to guide the pit through the cherry and into the bottle. Repeat until all the pits are removed.
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