Whether it’s June Pride or you just love rainbows; Rainbow Hand Pies are a must. A celebration of love in living color, what a beautiful thing. Last year I celebrated June Pride with a Rainbow Bouquet Pride Pie. If hand pies seem too laborsome, the full size pie is just as impressively gorgeous.
Get ready for splashes of messiness of pure joy creating these tasty hand pies full of fruity fillings of your choice. Be creative, don’t stop at my ideas, be free with your own imagination – so much FUN!!
Before you go crazy with colored dough make sure you have the pie fillings pre-made and ready for scooping. Do yourself a favor and make the fillings a day or two before! Link to instructions are below.
After you make the pie dough (it’s a big batch), roll out a ball of dough the size of a large orange in a rectangle, about 12 x 8 inches.
Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife and cut 1/2-inch strips. Set them aside on separate sheets of parchment paper, leaving a space between for painting with food dye.
Use 6 custard/small bowls each with about 3 tablespoons of milk or almond milk. I used neon purple, sky blue, neon lime green, red, and yellow. I mixed 1 drop red with 5 drops of yellow for orange (you can adjust, but go easy on the red, darkening a color is easier than lightening).
Here’s the fun part; use a pastry brush and start painting!
Here is a sample of all of the colors once painted.
Place the trays of colored strips into the refrigerator while you roll and cut out the hand pie bottoms.
I made a weave with some of the strips and cut out with a round cookie cutter. Or, you could place the strips over filling and then cut with cookie cutter to clean up edges.
The last techinique, which was the easiest for me, is just paint on the rainbow. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple; in that order.
Make sure to cut in air vents with a knife on painted pie toppers.
Bake the hand pies at 375 F. for 25 minutes. Transfer to a baking rack to cool and serve!
Rainbow Hand Pies
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- 4-inch round cookie cutter
- Gel food colors (neon purple, lime green, sky blue, red, yellow)
- Milk (any kind) for colors
- 6 small bowls
- Pastry brush
- pizza cutter and/or sharp knife
Ingredients
Grandma's Pie Crust – Big Batch
- 6 cups all purpose flour (may use gluten free flour) (see notes below for gluten free)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/3 cup pure cane sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups vegetable shortening or butter (or 1-1/2 cups of each)
- 1-1/2 cups very cold water
- 1 egg plus 2 tablespoons water, beaten (for attaching toppers to bottoms)
Berry Filling
- 4 cups fresh or frozen berries
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or orange juice, or combination
- 3 tablespoons Clear-Jelcornstarch or tapioca starch + 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
Apple Cinnamon Filling
- 4 cups chopped apples, 1/2-inch cubes or smaller (peeled and cored)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons Clear-Jelcornstarch or tapioca starch + 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
Instructions
Pie Dough/Crust
- In a very large bowl, stir all dry ingredients together.
- Add the shortening/butter and cut in with a large serving fork until very crumbly into pea-sized pieces.
- Add the cold water all at once and mix just until forms a ball (do not kneed or over mix). Set aside.
Berry Filling (Day before hand pies)
- Place berries (fresh or frozen) in a sauce pan on stove top over medium-high heat.
- Bring berries to a simmer and reduce heat to medium and let simmer about 15 minutes. The berries will fall apart a bit, if you want some "whole" pieces, toss in a handful of frozen berries when done cooking.
- In a small bowl, stir the cornstarch and water together to make a smooth slurry and pour slowly into simmering berries while stirring. The berry mixture will thicken quickly (about 1 to 2 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool, store in refrigerator if not using until next day.
Apple Cinnamon Filling
- Place peeled, cored, chopped apples into sauce pan. Add sugar and cinnamon.
- Place sauce pan over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- In a small bowl, stir the cornstarch and water together to make a smooth slurry and pour slowly into simmering apples. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool, store in refrigerator if not using until next day.
Pie Dough Prep
- Divide dough in half (for toppers and bottoms).
- With the one-half of dough, roll out to 1/4-inch thick. Using a 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 14 rounds for bottoms, set aside on parchment line baking sheets. Set aside.
- Colored Strips: With remaining dough, roll out two 12 x 8 rectangles and use pizza cutter to cut into long 1/4-inch strips. Set aside in 6 groups on parchment lined baking sheet (for the 6 different colors).
- Paint each set of strips the color of choice, making sure to get the sides. Place in refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Weave strips into lattice. Place in freezer for 5 to 10 minutes for easier cutting. Cut lattice weave with the same round cookie cutter. Place in fridge until assembling.
- Painted Rainbow: Roll out dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, cut into 4-inch rounds and paint with colors after assembling hand pie (see below).
Food Dye Mix
- In 6 small bowl/custard cups, add 3 tablespoons milk and a few drops of gel food color. Start light and add more as needed, stirring thoroughly in between. It is much easier to darken than lighten. Set aside for assembly.
Assembly – Rainbow Hand Pies
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Place 6 cut round bottoms onto parchment lined baking sheet. Brush beaten egg/water around each edge. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of fruit filling of choice.
- If placing lattice on top, use a metal spatula/flipper to place on top and use fingers to gently press edges down to seal.
- If placing colored strips, use the cookie cutter to cut excess off, you may need a sharp knife to keep shape; use fingers to gently press edges down to seal.
- If painting on rainbow, place on tops, cut vents on sides, press to seal edges with finger and paint with abandon!
- Bake 25 minutes at 375 F. Cool on wire rack and serve. Store extra in fridge. To recrisp in a day or two, place in oven 300 for 10 minutes.
