With Hand Pies and Justice For All

Hello friends! Now that the chilly months have settled into Seattle, we are getting more and more eager to turn on our ovens for the sake of baking. And cheap heating… but that is beside the point!

The point is that we at Pie Drunk have come to the conclusion that hand pies do not get enough attention are being unfortunately overlooked. Hand pies are wonderful! They are small, you don’t need a plate, they are easy to transport, easy to share, easy to customize, and damn tasty. We could go on and on, but lucky for you we won’t. Liz and I have brought you two delectable version of the hand pie so feel free to test one out, try them both, or get saucy and create your own flavor!

Miss Liz created some flaky, gluten free, dairy free blueberry hand pies with homemade ginger simple syrup.

Any good gluten free chef, usually has her own special flour blend for pies and such. I have not yet perfected one of my own.  Until then, I really like to use Gluten Free Pantry’s pie crust mix.  The dough is always tasty, and flaky--though it is fragile and needs to be kept as cold as possible.  This means that “my” recipe is pretty much the back of the box in this situation.  The only change I made was to use Earth Balance butter and shortening in place of regular butter and shortening.  For the crust, here’s what’s on the box (recipe makes 2 crusts):

16 oz Pie Crust Mix

¼ tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

10 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, in small pieces--Earth Balance Vegan Butter

10 tbsp butter flavored vegetable shortening in small pieces--Earth Balance Natural Shortening

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp cold water

3 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper so that it’s ready to go.

Combine pie crust mix, baking powder and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until pieces are about the size of large peas. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, water and vinegar. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Form into a ball, and chill for at least 1 hour. The dough gets sticky very easily, so it is important to work quickly to prevent it from getting too warm.  Divide dough in half. Refrigerate or freeze one portion for later use.

Roll out your dough between 2 layers of plastic wrap or wax paper until it is about ¼ inch thick.  Cut out rounds with whatever you have handy--it can be a biscuit cutter, a drinking glass, or like I used, the lid of a jar. Now you need the filling.

The filling was created very free form so adjust where you see fit.

6 cups blueberries

¾ cup sugar

¼ ginger simple syrup*

¼ cup cornstarch

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 egg (you will use this to brush on to the tops for your hand pies)

Combine all ingredients into one bowl and stir.  Spoon the filling on to half the rounds that you have cut out. Next place the remaining rounds on top of those with filling  and gently press the edges together with a fork.  Transfer the hand pies to your prepared baking sheet.

Finally take your egg and whisk in a small bowl.  Gently brush the egg on to the tops of each pie.  This will give them a nice golden brown color.

Bake at 425 F for about 15-20  minutes. Allow to rest on baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

*Ginger simple syrup was made by dissolving 2 cups of sugar into 1 cup of water over medium heat on the stove. Once the sugar is dissolved add 2 cups of thinly sliced ginger and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.  Strain syrup and then store in a sealed jar until you are ready to use.

Lady Allison went the fall route and baked up some sweet potato hand pies.

I wasn’t quite ready to let go of summer, despite knowing that pumpkins and cider are already flooding the grocery aisles as I type this. So in an effort to transition into the season, I picked up a few yams from the store and served up some sweet potato goodness.

For the crust, I used Martha Stewart’s recipe which is usually my go to recipe for pies. I find that it is super flaky without crumbling or falling apart and gives a nice buttery taste (but not in a Paula Dean kind of way).

Pate Brisee (for 1 double pie crust or 12 hand pies)

3 ¾ c. all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. sugar

2 ½ tsp. salt

3 sticks (1 ½ c.) unsalted butter, cold, and cut into small chunks

½ c. ice water, plus more if needed

1. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining (about 10 seconds).

*To mix by hand, combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Then cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives.

2. With the machine running, add ice water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of the dough together; it it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened rectangles and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least one hour or overnight.

Sweet potato filling

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced into small cubes

2 tbs. unsalted butter, melted

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

dash of ginger

1 egg, lightly beaten (2 eggs if you want to use an egg wash for the tops of the pies)

¼ c. sugar

⅓ c. buttermilk (or make your own if you don’t have any on hand)

Turbinado sugar for tops

Place a small pot on the stove with water and set to boil. Once the water is boiling, add in the sweet potato chunks and boil until tender when poked with a fork. Drain the water and add sweet potatoes to a mixing bowl and allow to cool. Mash with a potato masher or a fork until the mixture is like a smooth puree. Add the melted butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and ginger and mix until well combined. Add your lightly beaten egg to the sweet potato mixture and mix until incorporated. Add the flour slowly, a little bit at a time, and stir well. Add the buttermilk slowly and stir until the mixture is even and smooth.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled dough into a large rectangle. The dough should be very thin and no more than a ¼ of an inch thick. Cut the dough into desired shape of hand pie. Be creative! You can use the mouth section of a pint class, a biscuit cutter, a festive cookie cutter, or into small squares to be folded over into triangles. Your hand pies can take a variety shapes so do whatever feels comfortable to you. 

Now that you have your pieces of dough cut out, place a small spoonful of sweet potato mixture into the center of the dough (no more than 2 tablespoons). Add another piece of dough directly over the sweet potato mixture and line up your edges with the bottom piece of dough. If you are using squares, simply fold the top half of the dough over the sweet potatoes to meet the bottom half and enclose. Firmly press down the edges of the dough together while avoiding pushing any of the sweet potato mixture out (this is why it is important to not overfill your pie). Crimp the edges with a form to seal off the pie.

 

Cut vents in the top of your pies and top with an egg wash if using. Transfer to a lined baking sheet and sprinkle with turbinado sugar or regular sugar. Bake until the pies are golden brown for about 30-35 minutes and rotate the baking sheet halfway through.

 

Transfer to a wire rack and cool. Serve warm or at room temperature and with a scoop of ice cream if you aren’t too chilly with the fall weather.

Glamor Shot: