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.
Strawberry Hand Pies
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 pounds of strawberries 4 cups, chopped
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
Pastry Dough
- 9 ½ ounces all-purpose flour approximately 2 cups
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
- 2 ½ ounces shortening approximately 6 tablespoons
- ¾ cup milk
- Egg wash: 1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water
Instructions
Filling
- 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 ⅓ to ½-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 ¼-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.
Feast on the Cheap
Is it wrong that I wanna eat these for breakfast?
Paula
Love that you can just pick up one of these like a cookie and run with it! Great looking little pies.
Megan
Strawberry hand pie would make a perfect breakfast! And the drizzle looks like a must! 😉 Great pick!!!
Anne
Love this idea… and can’t wait to try the pastry with baking powder! I would drizzle everything if I could get away with it – makes it look artsy (and a little more sweet can’t hurt, right?)
Jason's BBQ Adventures
DELICIOUS! Great looking pies and you are absolutely right, everything is better with a drizzle (or pouring) of frosting!
Jess Wakasugi
Oh these look wonderful! I just bought a bundle of rhubarb from the local farmers market, so I’m thinking some strawberry-rhubarb hand pies are in order!
Cathy at Wives with Knives
Your hand pies look delicious, Barbara. Our weather has been so cold that we may not have strawberries until August. I bet peaches and berries would be wonderful as well.
Faith
These pies are adorable, Barbara! I’m bookmarking this recipe and planning to make it in a couple weeks when local strawberries are out here!
Shelby
Everything is definitely better with a drizzle of icing! Great choice and hand pies in my opinion are the “perfect” kind of pie to have around!
Kat Green
Barbara, those look so delicious. I love strawberries and yours look yummy.
Rosa
Jen has a lovely blog. That recipe is fabulous. I bet those hand pies are addictive!
Cheers,
Rosa
Tricia (Once A Month Mom)
Those look delicious! Yum!
Maris (In Good Taste)
These are so pretty. I love the concept of indiviual ones to make it easier for me to control portion size! Great photos!
rachel
I was given your wonderful space of recipes to choose from.
Love the drizzle on the pies.
Ana Powell
Wow, they look so delicious and tempting.
Awesome recipe ♥
Kim
I just received Martha’s new pie cookbook and have been eyeing her strawberry hand pies. Yours are gorgeous and I LOVE the idea of adding a little icing. Now, if only I had one for breakfast 😉
mary
They are so delicious!
Heather Davis
Barbara -these look great! Can’t wait to give them a go. And agree on the icing front. It’s a must.
Barbara
Those are adorable, Barbara. I made Giada’s recipe last year for blueberry hand pies, but they were so fragile. Delicious, but broke apart in your hands. I’m going to make them again and try your crust. And she deep fried hers, you baked. Much healthier!
Barb S
Those look delicious! I agree, a little icing drizzle DOES make anything better 🙂