These Flaky Blueberry Hand Pies are one of the “best of summer” desserts one can make! One of my favorite summer things to do is to pick fresh blueberries. How could you not love the solace of quiet fields with dragonflies swirling around to distract you from the chaos of this thing called life. This recipe has to be one of my favorites because you can enjoy a portion-controlled slice of blueberry pie without all the calories, but with all the flavor! Who am I to tell you not to warm up a hand pie and put a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, if you like? Whatever gets you through these days, by all means do!
Crust:
I find my flaky Ultimate All-Butter Pie Crust perfect for these little hand-held pies. Doubling the recipe, yielded 36 squares which is enough for 18 hand pies. Link over to that post for the specific directions, including pictures, as outlined in the directions below. For this batch, I used a 2-3/4″ square biscuit cutter. I’ve also used a circle cutter with a 2-3/4″ diameter inches Both work well!
Blueberry Filling:
First, dissolve the cornstarch with the lemon juice; whisk until smooth. Place the cornstarch mixture into a small saucepan with the fresh blueberries and rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine. Set heat at MEDIUM-LOW and bring to a low boil as you constantly stir. Once it begins to thicken, in about 8 minutes, remove pan from the heat. Place filling in a small bowl and allow it to cool down. This is the perfect time to roll the dough!
Assembling the Hand Pies:
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange 12 pieces of dough on the pan. Using a medium cookie scoop, place filling in the center, leaving edges clear. Create an egg wash by whisking an egg with a tablespoon of water until frothy. Wet the dough’s edges around the filling with the egg wash. You can use your finger or a pastry brush.
Next, take the other pieces of dough and stretch it out both ways to help it cover the bottom section over the blueberry filling. Press edges to seal. Then, use a fork to crimp the edges shut as shown below. Some filling may ooze out here and while it bakes. Don’t worry though. Once cooled, the hand pies easily lift away from the parchment paper.
Baking:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place pan on rack placed in top third of oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Leave them on the pan to cool for a few minutes. then lift to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Icing:
Once the hand pies have cooled, whisk the lemon juice and heavy cream into the confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Place mixture in a Ziploc sandwich bag and seal. Cut a small tip off of one corner. Here, I’ve lined up the 18 Flaky Blueberry Hand Pies on the cooling rack side-by-side. Drizzle the icing from corner to corner and quickly move on to the next one. This should be a quick process.
Whoops! What happened to the one that was on the corner? Oh, I remember now…LOL Someone had to taste test!
Oh, yum!!!!
Flaky Blueberry Hand Pies
Ingredients
Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 t sugar
- 1 c butter (2 sticks)
- 1/4 c ICE water
Blueberry Filling:
- 2 T cornstarch
- 2 T fresh lemon juice
- 2 1/2 c fresh blueberries
- 3/4 t cinnamon
- 3/4 t nutmeg
- 1/3 c Sugar in the RAW ( turbinado sugar)
- 1 T lemon zest
- 1 1/2 t vanilla
Icing
- 1 c confectioner's sugar
- 1 T fresh lemon juice
- 3 T heavy cream
Instructions
Crust
- Whisk together the dry ingredients
- Grate 1/2 stick of butter at a time and toss with flour mixture Repeat until all butter has been grated and mixed in. Rub butter into flour by pressing it between your thumb and forefingers Once mixture appears shaggy, proceed to the next step.
- Make a well in the center and add the ice water; blend in using a similar method as stated previously.
- Pour mixture onto a pastry mat or similar surface. Press together and knead it to form a ball Split it into 2 equal sections. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour before using
- Once filling has been prepared and slightly cooled, roll each section of dough to about an 1/8" thickness. Cut with desired pie shapes, squares or circles.
- I used 2-3/4" square and was able to cut about 36 total sections for a total of 18 pies.
Filling
- Dissolve the cornstarch with the lemon juice. Whisk until smooth.
- Put the cornstarch mixture and the rest of the ingredients into a small saucepan and stir to equally distribute.
- Over MEDIUM-LOW heat, bring mixture to a low boil, stirring continuously,f until it just starts to thicken. This should take about 8 minutes. Take saucepan off of the burner and put in a bowl to cool. This would be a good time to start rolling out the dough!
Icing
- Whisk together until smooth. Place in a sandwich bag and seal closed. Snip off a small corner to drizzle onto hand pies once cooled
Assembling Hand Pie
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 12 cut squares or circles in a 3 x 4 arrangement
- Using a medium cookie scoop, drop one leveled scoop per square.
- Mix one egg with a tablespoon of water and whisk until slightly frothy. Dip your finger in the egg mixture and rim the 4 edges with the egg wash.
- Stretch the top square/circle slightly so you can layer it over the blueberry filing and match to the bottom square circle better. Press slightly to seal. Then use a fork to crimp the edges Prick the top with a fork to help vent
- Bake at 400°F for 25-28 minutes or until slightly golden in color. There may be some oozing of the filling, but no worries
- Allow them to cool a few minutes on the pan before removing them to the cooling rack.
- Cool completely before icing as instructed above.
