My secret blogger this month for the Secret Recipe Club is Jen, Beantown Baker. I was excited to make something from Jen’s delicious blog because we’re both bakers. She explains, “In case you can’t tell, I’m more of a baker than a cook. There’s just something about the scientific, meticulous nature of baking that I love.” I couldn’t agree more. I even think it’s fun to use my digital scale to get measurements just right.
One of my favorite things to bake (and of course eat) is pie. Since the market is filled with gorgeous strawberries right now, I decided to bake the Strawberry Hand Pies Jen posted last June. She said she ended up eating some of her strawberry pies for breakfast and that sounded like a fabulous idea to me.
So for breakfast last Saturday, I made the dough and filling and had my twin, teenage boys join me in the kitchen to make hand pies (Pop Tarts?). They came together in no time and it was fun having my kids help in the kitchen.
The dough isn’t a flaky pie crust type of dough, so it’s really easy to roll out and shape. My filling wasn’t as sweet as I would have liked, so I added a little drizzle of icing. Okay, I might have added a drizzle of icing even if the filling was sweeter. Isn’t everything better with a drizzle of icing.
If you haven’t made hand pies yet, give it a try. They’re as much fun to make as they are to eat. Be sure and visit Jen, Beantown Baker, and checkout her delicious pies and other scrumptious recipes.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of strawberries (4 cups, chopped)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 cups
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 1/2 ounces shortening, approximately 6 tablespoons
- 3/4 cup milk
- Egg wash: 1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water
Directions
- Hull and cut strawberries into small pieces. Mix them with the flour, sugar and pinch of salt. (You may want to increase the sugar depending on how sweet your berries are - next time I would add more sugar.)
- Pastry Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or mix it in with your hands until it is crumbly.
- Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together.
- Lightly flour your hands and the countertop and turn the dough out onto the countertop. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times.
- Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 1/4-inch ring. Roll each round as thinly as possible or to 5 to 6 inches in diameter.
- Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto the dough, brush the edges of half of the dough lightly with the egg wash, fold over and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork, dipping it into flour as needed. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and snip or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie.
- Brush a little bit of egg wash on the outside of the pie and sprinkle with decorating sugar.
- Place finished pies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
adapted from Beantown Baker
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I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
I am absolutely loving these ‘hand-pies’!!! Great choice!
Barbara, I love seeing what you have all baked up for this event. Sounds like loads of fun! These hand pies look amazing with all those strawberries
these look adorable!! say the word pop-tart and i have to admit, i’m smitten
These look super yummy, and better than most of the pop-tart recipes out there.
Soooooo delicious! I love the idea of eating a couple strawberry hand pies for breakfast
The glaze addition was a major plus…everything is definitely better with a glaze 
Queste tortine alle fragole sono deliziose, anche a me piace l’idea di abbinarle a delle fragole fresche. Un abbraccio Daniela.
I love love love hand pies! So much easier and cleaner than a regular pie!
I am so not good at making the pastry… but these look so tempting that I have to try it!
You have a beautiful blog!
Ruchi
http://ruchisimplyfood.blogspot.com
Oh my Barbara these look so delicious. So beautifully encased!! I’ve veen baking more and more recently and sure will add these to the list!
& strawberries season begun so Yay!
These look and sound absolutely delightful! I love strawberries and love pie! The perfect combination
What delicious hand pies! I am all about the sugary drizzle! These are such a treat for breakfast.
Oh my, I just can’t believe what I just saw. These little pies just wonderful for any occasion and truly delicious sounding too. Thanks so much for sharing it. Have a wonderful day,dear.
Kristy
These look fabulous Barbara but I admit…I was sold just on the photo of the berries! I so love them and this looks like a wonderful recipe for finding yet another use.
These are just ADORABLE – I just love little pretty things like that – also when you eat them i am sure you don’t feel as guilty
Nice work!
What cute hand pies to try making! Great choice for SRC!
You can never go wrong with hand pies!
They look like delicious sweet little pasties! I really love the idea of the secret blogger pairings! I really wish I had time for it. How do you find the time mum?
xxx
I love the idea of dessert for breakfast! Brilliant!
Going over to check out Beantown Baker….
I’ve never tried hand pies before, but these look so delicious! I was actually at the Farmer’s Market last week, and some of the vendors had huge strawberries, but I wasn’t quite ready to bake, so I’ll have to head back and get some.
oh wow, how good do these look! I think hand pies are just the cutest desserts.
Ooooooh…they sure do look scrumptious!!! My mouth was watering just looking at your first picture, and then when I saw them with the icing drizzle…oh man…it made me want some even more! I’ve bookmarked the recipe. I’m definitely gonna have to try this, and since it’s low in sugar, I won’t feel guilty about it. Will I add the icing drizzle…hmmmm…maybe I’ll indulge and drizzle them on just a few.
Would be great with fresh peach slices too!! 
Would this work with blueberries or mixed berries?
I think it would work well with either blueberries or mixed berries. Let me know if you try it. Have fun!
amazing pies (or little empanadas) look amazing Barbara , love your blog I following you right now! x gloria
These look delicious! Would it be wrong to eat two at a time…one for each hand?
Love these pies~ can’t wait to try them~ anything with strawberries and homemade crust is a winner in my book~
WOW – so much deliciousness. I wish I had one of these pies in my hands right now Barbara to help cheer me up on this gloomy, rainy day.
The pies look great.
I tried to add a little bit mint into the filling. Tastes marvelous! Thank you!