Be still my heart! Homemade chocolate pudding in a flaky fried crust will make your heart sing. You will never want the store-bought fried pies again! You can do any shape or size, make them with your kids, give them as gifts, or treat yourself!
Oooo, look at the chocolate pudding and the flaky buttermilk crust. It’s tender on the inside and crisp on the outside full of chocolaty goodness. The pudding recipe makes more than you need, so impatient hubby’s can dive right into the your bowl of sweet chocolate heaven without you batting his hand away.
The picture here is not quite to scale. For the heart pies the cookie cutter is 4-inches x 4-inches at the longest and widest points.
For the bottom folded-over pie I used a 4.5-inch round cutter.
BOTH the heart and round hand pies have the same amount of filling; about 2 to 3 tablespoons.
A 30 ml (1 fluid ounce) cookie dough scoop is the perfect size without any guessing.
Out of one dough recipe I made 4 hearts and 11 folded-over pies. If I made only the folded-over pies there would have enough for 17 to 18 pies!!!
Fry each pie about 1-1/2 minutes in about 1/2-inch of oil; about 3 at a time. I tried frying the top vs. bottom of the pies and for appearances sake I liked frying the top side first.
Tip: If the oil starts smoking remove pan from heat for a minute or so & turn the heat down just a notch. Then you can get right back to fried pie heaven.
As these fried pies have no preservatives they only keep for a couple of days in the fridge. So, only fry up what you want for that day or the next. I do roll out and cut the remaining dough and place between sheets of parchment inside a ziploc bag. I pop them in the fridge and I am ready for more chocolate fried pies another day.
And please, don’t forget to save that last hand pie for yourself, you know what to do.
Chocolate Fried Hand Pies
Ingredients
Chocolate Pudding (filling)
- 1/2 cup dutch unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1-1/8 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups milk
- 1-1/2 cups half & half
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Buttermilk Crust
- 4 cups flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/3 cup shortening
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 egg
- 2 tablespoon water
Instructions
Chocolate Pudding Filling
- In a medium saucepan, mix cocoa, sugar, cornstarch and salt, whisk well. Gradually add milk and half & half to the dry ingredients in saucepan. Whisk until smooth and well blended. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly.
- Bring mixture to a boil and boil for 1 minute, remove from heat.
- Add butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Whisk until chocolate and butter is melted, pour into bowl and place plastic wrap pressed onto surface to prevent skin and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
Buttermilk Pie Dough/Crust
- Mix all dry ingredients and cut in the shortening. Beat the egg with the buttermilk and add in all at once. Stir just enough to form a ball. IF it feels like you are forcing it into a ball, you made need to add 1 more tablespoon of water.
- Roll out dough 1/8-inch thick, cut your shapes with cookie cutters. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooled pudding, brush water around edge of bottom dough. Gently stretch top over bottom, press edges down with fingers and crimp with fork.
- Fry for about 1-1/2 minutes on each side in hot oil. If using a deep fryer, total frying time is about 3 to 3-1/2 minutes at 365. If you prefer to bake, brush tops with a beaten egg or milk & bake for 20-22 minutes at 425.
Hi! If I wanted to make the filling with buttermilk (I love chocolate/buttermilk together!), how much of the milk and/or half and half would you recommend swapping with buttermilk?
Sorry for delayed response, still nursing a broken leg/arm, ugh, gravity. I would swap out all of the milk for buttermilk as half & half is have cream and milk. Sounds delish!!!
This is an excellent recipe! My first try at making fried pies and so many other recipes use instant pudding or canned biscuts and this recipe is just what I was looking for. You just can’t beat homemade. I’m not sure what I did wrong but I only got 7 pies out of this and the first one the dough was thinner and was tearing. I didn’t need 17-18 pies, just wandering if I didn’t do something right. The were delicious anyway and I’m gonna make this my new pudding recipe.
Tammy, I will double check on dough recipe for the amount. I love that chocolate pudding though, I just made some last week.
Hi, this recipe sounds wonderful! I need to make some ahead for special get together. Do these need refrigeration if not served the same day?
Yes! You can put the hand pies together, raw dough, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a day before frying. You can also freeze them (raw dough), on frying day let them sit at room temp for 30 minutes and then fry. The one thing to remember is once the pudding is made, regardless what you do with it, it will need to be refrigerated, fried or not fried.
These hand pies look amazing. I was looking for a baked hand pie with this type of filling. Do you have a baked hand pie recipe with chocolate filling? Thanks
You can bake these too instead of frying. Make sure the filling is good and cold, bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 375 F.
Could you use cook & serve chocolate pudding for the filling? I have the pudding but not all those other ingredients.
Absolutely! You could also toss in some extra chocolate chips when the pudding is finished, stir to get them melted and then pour in a bowl with plastic wrap to cool, same as recipe! It’s not needed but the extra chocolate will make it even tastier!
Simply amazing! Super awesome for the whole family kids enjoyed making them with me! Ready for another recommended desert or snack recipe from the pie lady!
Can you freeze these and if so before or after you cook them?
Thanks!
I would freeze them BEFORE cooking. On cooking day, take them out of freezer, place them on parchment, and let thaw about 1 hour. Happy Pie Making!
Do you add the milk and the half and half at the same time?
Yes, I do. I will update that in the instructions! I just made a big batch of these on Friday, you’re going to love it. Thanks for the question.
Is this filling gritty? I made some others and they were gritty filling so I’m looking for one that the filling is not gritty with the sugar.
Nope! This is the creamiest chocolate filling I have ever come up with. I love it! Sometimes, it doesn’t make it into a pie. I am a texture driven food person, I don’t like “lumps” or “grit” in any pudding/creamy filling whatsoever.
Thank you for the quick followup for the chocolate hand pies. I made a them today and everyone gobbled them up and requested another batch.
That is fantabulous! I could eat those all day. Thanks for the nice comments and please feel free to share a pic!
Thanks for the recipe Pie Lady! This is the one I’ve been searching for. I started to make this today, but I saw that butter is listed in the recipe directions for the filling, but not on the list of ingredients. How much is needed? I can’t wait to try them!
Good grief, I should hire a proofreader. 2 tablespoons butter for the filling and I am updating the recipe right now!