Star-Shaped Cherry Hand Pies
All the goodness of cherry pie in a single-bite treat, these star-shaped cherry hand pies are the perfect grab-and-go snack. Made with a flaky, from-scratch pie crust and a juicy cherry filling these tiny pies are as delicious as they are adorable.
Ingredients
Pie crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
- 1 tsp sea salt fine
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter very cold and cut into pats
- 1/2 cup ice cold water *may require less, see instructions below
Cherry filling
- 2 cups fresh cherries stemmed and pitted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp sea salt fine
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice fresh
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/2 Tbsp water room temperature
Topping
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 Tbsp heavy cream
- Turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs.
- Add ice cold water, one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until mixture forms clumps. *Note: you may not need the entire 1/2 cup called for in the recipe.
- Transfer dough to a floured surfaced. Using your hands, divide dough in half.
- Flatten each dough half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Cherry Filling
- Combine cherries, sugar, salt and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves.
- Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl until combined then add to cherry filling.
- Increase heat to medium-high and stir constantly until mixture thickens, about 7 minutes.
- Remove saucepan from heat and transfer cherry filling to a glass bowl.
- Cool to room temperature before assembling pies.
Assembly
- Remove one disk of chilled dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8 of an inch thick.
- Cut dough with a star-shaped cookie cutter. Re-roll any dough scraps and cut into stars.
- Refrigerate star-shaped cutouts.
- Remove 2nd dough disk from the refrigerator. Repeat the roll-and-cut process then refrigerate star-shaped cutouts for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
- Place half of the star cutouts on baking sheet evenly spaced apart. Using a sharp knife, cut four tiny slits into the middle of each of the remaining stars to vent steam.
- Add one tablespoon of cherry filling to the center of each star on baking sheet. Cover each with a vented star cutout and crimp edges closed with a fork.
- Beat egg and heavy cream in a bowl with a fork. Brush the tops of each star pie with this egg wash mixture.
- If desired, sprinkle each pie with turbinado sugar then bake for 15 minutes or until pies are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool for on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool a few more minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Cherry Hand Pies taste best the day they are made but can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 3 days.