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.
Becky at VintageMixer
These look so fun to make! Perfect for a barbecue or picnic I think.
Shumaila
Oh! These look so delicious! Haven’t made hand pies before but you surely have tempted me to! Bookmarking it!
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc
This looks beyond amazing! Love this one
Suzanne Collier
Ooooooo, I wish I had one right now! These look and sound delicious. Of course your pics are outstanding as always. I have now added these to my “to do” list!
Anna Johnston
Ditto, ditto, ditto 🙂 I’m so going to have to try these too.
Tami
Deliciously beautiful sweet juicy treats! I’m sure these would be a big hit at our house. I couldn’t wait to do a strawberry recipe this month, too. My strawberry mascarpone ice cream would pair up well with your hand pies!
Kristen
I love that the filling is made from fresh strawberries and not jam. I definitely need to branch out into hand held pies. YUM!
sara
This sounds fabulous! I love strawberry pastries…YUM! 🙂
Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes)
Gorgeous pictures. That’s exactly why I love baking too.. it’s so precise and meticulate.
Anne-Marie @ This Mama Cooks!
I think we all agree that Strawberry Hand Pies are what’s for breakfast!
Amy (Sing For Your Supper)
Gorgeous!!! I can’t seem to get enough strawberries right now and these look absolutely heavenly!
Mimi
I love the ease of hand pies and my kids would love to have these for breakfast.
Mimi
Lisa @ Sweet as Sugar Cookies
I remember eating hand pies when I was a kid, but they were nothing like the beautiful fresh delicious ones you just made. Wish I could have eaten yours back then because they look superb.
BethieofVA
Oh YUM!!! I might have to make this, cheating, of course, with some refrigerated pie dough I have hanging around. Lovely.
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
Those look gorgeous! Love the drizzled icing too.
Kathy - Cooking On the Side
These look so…grabbable! Yum, Barbara!
Sue
I have wanted to make hand pies for awhile now, and looking at your gorgeous little strawberry pies has really motivated me to get a move on! 🙂
Nicole@HeatOvenTo350
They look delicious! I haven’t tried hand pies yet but they look like something I’d love.
Amanda
I love hand pies! My favorite are cherry, but I bet strawberry would be just as amazing. So glad you played along again this month Barbara!
Dana
I’ve never made hand pies, but I love the idea. They look like sweet little empanadas!
BigFatBaker
Hmm.. I have never made a hand pie but they look so cute and fun to eat. I have been on a “pie kick” lately, so I’ll have to give these a try! And yes, everything is better with icing 🙂 Happy Monday!