Get ready to embrace the flavors of summer with these utterly irresistible cherry hand pies! Imagine a perfectly buttery, flaky pie crust, generously filled with sweet, juicy fresh cherries, all crowned with a delicate drizzle of almond icing. These individual pies are not just a dessert; they’re a celebration of seasonal fruit, crafted into a delightful, handheld treat that’s destined to become your new favorite for picnics, gatherings, or a simple afternoon indulgence. This recipe, proudly sponsored by Challenge Dairy, highlights the importance of quality ingredients in creating truly exceptional baked goods.
A Taste of Summer: Why Cherry Hand Pies Steal the Show
Cherries are, without a doubt, one of nature’s finest gifts, and the arrival of summer means we eagerly anticipate their vibrant color and sweet-tart flavor. While enjoying them straight from the bag is always a simple pleasure, baking with fresh cherries unlocks a whole new level of culinary delight. And when it comes to cherry recipes, these mini hand pies are truly in a league of their own!
What makes them so special? Their charm lies in their elegant simplicity. They are, at their core, pure summer joy: a sweet, bountiful cherry filling enveloped by a rich, homemade flaky pie crust, finished with a hint of almond icing that perfectly complements the fruit. The harmonious blend of fresh, plump cherries, the crisp, buttery pastry, and the subtly sweet almond glaze creates a flavor profile that is absolutely divine. Every bite offers a burst of fruity goodness, balanced by the comforting texture of a perfectly baked crust. It’s an uncomplicated pleasure that delivers maximum impact, making it a stellar choice for a summer dessert.
The Magic of Portable Perfection: Hand Pies for Every Occasion
The beauty of hand pies, as their name suggests, lies in their convenience – they are individual portions of pie designed to be eaten effortlessly, right out of your hand. This portability makes them an unparalleled choice for a myriad of summer activities and beyond. Planning a charming picnic in the park? These cherry hand pies pack beautifully and eliminate the need for plates and forks. Heading to the beach for a day of sun and surf? They’re the perfect sandy-finger-friendly snack. Embarking on a scenic hike? Tuck one into your bag for a delightful energy boost at the summit.
Beyond outdoor adventures, these portable treats are fantastic for potlucks, lunchboxes, road trips, or simply enjoying on the porch with a cup of coffee. They offer all the satisfying deliciousness of a traditional pie but in a convenient, mess-free format. Of course, if you prefer a more decadent experience, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with serving your warm cherry hand pie in a bowl, perhaps accompanied by a scoop of luscious vanilla bean ice cream or a dollop of freshly whipped cream. The possibilities are endless, and the joy is guaranteed!
So, let’s gather our ingredients and embark on the delicious journey of baking these wonderful cherry hand pies, shall we?
Essential Ingredients for Flaky Cherry Hand Pies
Crafting these delectable hand pies requires a careful selection of fresh, high-quality ingredients. Since the recipe is relatively simple, each component plays a crucial role in the final flavor and texture. Here’s what you’ll need to create your batch of homemade cherry hand pies:
- All-purpose flour: The foundation of our flaky crust.
- Challenge Butter: The star ingredient for achieving that rich, buttery flavor and delicate flakiness.
- Buttermilk: Adds tenderness and a subtle tang to the pie dough.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens both the crust and the vibrant cherry filling.
- Powdered sugar: Essential for crafting the smooth, pourable almond icing.
- Cornstarch: Acts as a thickening agent for the cherry filling, preventing it from being too watery.
- Heavy cream or milk: Used in the almond icing to achieve the perfect consistency.
- Salt: Enhances all the flavors, balancing the sweetness in both the crust and filling.
- Almond extract: Provides a delightful aromatic note to the icing, complementing the cherries beautifully.
- Fresh sweet cherries: The undeniable star of the show, providing the fresh, fruity center.
- Egg: For an egg wash, giving the pies a beautiful golden-brown sheen.
The Secret to Superior Flakiness: Baking with Challenge Butter
In a recipe with a modest list of ingredients like our cherry hand pies, the quality of each component becomes paramount. This is precisely why I consistently choose Challenge Butter for my baking endeavors, especially when it comes to creating that coveted flaky pie crust. Challenge Butter stands out not just for its rich taste, but for its unparalleled freshness and quality, which directly translates into the superior texture and flavor of these hand pies.
Challenge Butter is churned daily from the freshest cream sourced from dedicated, family-owned dairies. This commitment to freshness means that their butter is often made and ready for shipment to your local supermarket within a mere 24 hours of milking. Such incredible freshness is not just a marketing point; it’s a game-changer in baking. When you use truly fresh, high-quality butter, you’ll notice a significant difference in how your pie crust behaves and, more importantly, how it tastes.
The high fat content and pure dairy flavor of Challenge Butter are crucial for developing that beautiful, layered, flaky texture in pie crusts. As the cold butter pieces melt in the oven, they release steam, which separates the layers of dough, creating an airy, tender, and undeniably flaky result. This process is what gives our hand pies their irresistible melt-in-your-mouth quality and a rich, buttery depth that a lesser quality butter simply cannot achieve. Investing in premium ingredients like Challenge Butter truly elevates these simple cherry hand pies from good to absolutely extraordinary, ensuring every bite is a testament to quality and craftsmanship.
Crafting Your Cherry Hand Pies: A Step-by-Step Guide
Creating these delightful cherry hand pies might seem intricate, but with a homemade pie dough, a simple 3-ingredient filling, and a quick icing, the process is surprisingly straightforward and incredibly rewarding. Follow these detailed steps for a perfect batch:
1. Preparing the Flaky Pie Dough
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and coarse salt. This ensures even distribution of flavors.
- Incorporate Cold Butter: Add the cold, cubed Challenge Butter to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, two knives, or even your fingertips, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter pieces are roughly the size of small peas. The key here is to keep the butter as cold as possible, which is essential for developing a flaky crust.
- Add Buttermilk: Pour in the cold buttermilk. Use a spatula to gently bring the mixture together, then switch to your hands to form a cohesive ball of dough. If the dough seems too dry, add a tiny bit more buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time, until it just comes together. It’s okay if it looks a little shaggy – overworking the dough will lead to a tough crust.
- Chill the Dough: Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This chilling period is crucial as it allows the gluten to relax and the butter to firm up again, ensuring a tender and flaky crust.
2. Assembling Your Hand Pies
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
- Roll Out Pie Dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled pie crust into a large rectangle, approximately 12 x 15 inches. Don’t worry about being perfectly precise. Use a sharp knife or pastry wheel to trim the edges, creating straight lines, and then cut the dough into 12 even rectangles.
- Prepare Cherry Filling: In a separate medium bowl, combine the halved, pitted fresh sweet cherries with granulated sugar and cornstarch. The cornstarch will thicken the juices released by the cherries during baking, preventing a soggy crust.
- Fill and Seal Hand Pies: Take 6 of your dough rectangles and place a generous mound of the cherry filling in the center of each, leaving about a ½-inch border around the edges. In a small bowl, whisk one egg with a tablespoon of water to create an egg wash. Lightly brush the edges of the filled dough rectangles with this egg wash.
- Top and Crimp: Carefully place the remaining 6 dough rectangles on top of the cherry-filled ones. Gently press the edges together with your fingers to seal them completely. Then, use the tines of a fork to crimp all around the edges, not only for a decorative finish but also to ensure a secure seal that keeps the filling inside. Brush the tops of all the hand pies with the remaining egg wash and poke a few small holes with a toothpick or fork to allow steam to escape during baking.
3. Baking to Golden Perfection and Final Touches
- Bake: Carefully transfer the assembled hand pies to your prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crusts are beautifully golden brown and the filling is bubbly. The exact time may vary slightly depending on your oven.
- Cool Slightly: Once baked, remove the hand pies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes while you prepare the icing.
- Drizzle with Icing: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of milk or heavy cream, and the almond extract. Add just enough liquid to achieve a thick but pourable glaze.
- Serve and Enjoy: Use a spoon to generously drizzle the almond icing over the slightly cooled hand pies. Allow the icing to set for a few minutes before serving. These cherry hand pies are absolutely divine when fresh and still slightly warm, offering a comforting aroma and taste.
Serving Suggestions and Storage Tips
While these cherry hand pies are delicious on their own, especially when still slightly warm, there are many ways to enjoy them. For an extra special treat, serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of freshly whipped cream. The contrast between the warm, fruity filling and the cool creaminess is simply heavenly. They also pair wonderfully with a morning coffee or an afternoon tea, making them versatile for any time of day.
One of the many advantages of hand pies is their excellent keeping quality. If you have any leftovers (which is unlikely!), store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days. For longer storage, you can refrigerate them for up to 5 days. To enjoy them warm again, a quick zap in the microwave or a few minutes in a toaster oven will bring back their fresh-baked charm. These hand pies can also be frozen for up to 1-2 months. Simply wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then place them in a freezer-safe bag. Thaw at room temperature and warm as desired.
More Delicious Cherry-Inspired Recipes to Try
If you’ve fallen in love with the vibrant taste of fresh cherries through these hand pies, you’ll be thrilled to explore more ways to incorporate this glorious summer fruit into your baking and cooking. Here are a few other fantastic cherry recipes that are sure to delight your taste buds:
- Sweet Cherry Pie
- Ultimate Summer Fruit Cobbler
- Fresh Cherry Limeades
- Sweet Cherry and Hazelnut Galette
Watch the Cherry Hand Pie Recipe Video
Recommended Baking Tools for This Recipe
To make your cherry hand pie baking experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible, here are some essential tools that will come in handy:
- Pastry Blender: Perfect for cutting cold butter into flour for that flaky crust.
- Rolling Pin: For evenly rolling out your pie dough.
- Baking Sheet: A sturdy sheet pan is essential for baking the pies evenly.
- Parchment Paper: Ensures non-stick baking and easy cleanup.
- Cherry Pitter: A lifesaver for quickly and cleanly pitting fresh cherries.
- Mixing Bowls: Various sizes for preparing dough, filling, and icing.
- Whisk: For combining dry ingredients and making the icing.
- Pastry Brush: For applying the egg wash to the pie tops.
Cherry Hand Pies
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Ingredients
For the Pie Crust:
- 2 ½ cup (300 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 cup (226 grams) Challenge Salted Butter , cold and cubed
- ½ cup (113 grams) buttermilk , cold
For the Cherry Filling:
- 12 oz (340 grams) fresh sweet cherries , pitted and halved
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
For the Almond Icing:
- 1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
To prepare the pie crust:
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Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add butter and use a pastry blender to cut butter into dry ingredients until bits of butter are about the size of small peas.
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Add buttermilk and use a spatula and then your hands to bring the mixture together into a ball. If you need to add more buttermilk, do so a tablespoon at a time. It’s okay it’s a little shaggy, as long as it stays together.
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Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
To assemble Hand Pies:
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Preheat oven to 400°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
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On a lightly floured surface, roll out pie crust into a large rectangle about 12 x 15 inches, though you don’t need to be exact. Trim edges so they’re straight and cut dough into 12 rectangles of even size.
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In a bowl, combine the cherries, sugar, and cornstarch.
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Place a mound of the cherry filling into the center of 6 rectangles, leaving about a ½-inch border. Brush edges of crust with egg wash and place the remaining 6 rectangles on top. Use your finger to press dough together to seal and then crimp edges with a fork. Brush tops with egg wash and poke a few holes with a toothpick.
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Place hand pies on prepared sheet pan and bake until crusts are golden brown, about 30 minutes.
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Let hand pies cool slightly while you prepare the icing.
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Whisk powdered sugar, milk or heavy cream, and almond extract together. Add only enough milk or cream to make a thick but pourable glaze.
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Drizzle icing over hand pies. Let set up for a few minutes before serving.
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Hand pies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
Video
Disclosure: This recipe was created in partnership with Challenge Dairy, Inc. Thank you for supporting partnerships with brands I love and believe in, which make Completely Delicious possible. All opinions are always 100% my own. To learn more about Challenge Dairy, you can visit their website here. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.