Our Nation’s Birthday is upon us! It’s time to raise and salute to Old Glory while celebrating with fireworks displays & patriotic backyard BBQs which is the perfect venue for all-American Star-Spangled Cherry Hand Pies! These tasty cherry hand pies have the perfect amount of sweetness, a touch of lemon zest, with your fresh-picked tart cherries baked in a flaky buttery crust creating super yummy hand pies.
The kiddos can run by the picnic food fare & grab a hand pie without missing out on any fun; no forks, no plates, and no mess (last year I saw a couple of hand pies “slip” into someone’s pocket for a snack “later”). It made my heart sing and I will never divulge the pie enthusiast. Who am I to withhold pie?
Here are a few tips on perfect cherry pie filling you really need to know. First, cherries oxidize FAST! I don’t like whole cherries (plus for hand pies they should cut in half). This means you need to get these little cherry treasures in sugar immediately once sliced. I also flash-froze the rest of the cherries I did not use. (However, when they are thawed, I will toss them with sugar as they defrost, or I will have “brown” cherries.)
The morning (or night before) you make your hand pies, toss the cherries with the sugar and lemon juice and let sit for 2 to 3 hours. This will draw out the liquid (cherries are about 80% water). I then strain the sugary cherry juice into a saucepan, add the thickener and cook over medium heat to thicken. This juice goo gets folded back into the cherries. This ensures no watery messy cherry bombs and the filling cooks perfectly in the hand pies. Why make the “pies” do all the work in the oven alone? This pie-goo step saves ALL my fruit pies.
Left: Cherries mixed with sugar & lemon. Middle: The cooked pie goo. Right: Cherries folded into pie goo.
If you are not fond of cherries, click these links for instructions for Berry Hand Pies or Caramel Apple Hand Pies.
Roll out the dough thinner than you would for a regular pie, otherwise there is too much crust. For a 3-1/2 inch cookie cutter I spoon on about 2 to 3 scant tablespoons filling per hand pie, and then brush edges with water or egg wash. I used a silicone baking sheet for baking (parchment works great too).
For the top crust, cut the stars out first, and gently stretch over the filling, pressing with fingers, and then crimping with a fork. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with large crystal sugar and bake!
You can also make these gluten free using my gluten free flour mix, made with Bob’s Red Mill products.
So, whether you are staying in, going to a fireworks display, hosting a BBQ; however you celebrate, bring a batch of hand pies & save the last hand pie for yourself!
Star-Spangled Cherry Hand Pies
Ingredients
Cherry Pie Filling
- 5 cups tart pie cherries (dark sweet cherries do not bake as well)
- 1 cup pure cane sugar
- 1/3 cup Clearjel, cornstarch or tapioca starch
- Zest of one lemon (save the juice)
- Dash of salt
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water (for egg wash)
- Large crystal crystal sugar
- 2 batches Grandma's Pie crust Large crystal sugar
Grandma's Pie Crust
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons pure cane sugar
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup cold water
Instructions
Pie Dough Instructions:
- Stir together all dry ingredients with a large fork.
- Cut in the shortening and butter until crumbly pea-sized pieces.
- Add water all at once and mix just until forms a ball (do not kneed or over mix). The dough will be rather soft.
- For hand pies roll out section of dough heavily floured counter top, rolling out to about slightly thicker than 1/8-inch (slightly thinner than you would for full pie crust). Use water or egg wash to seal & crimp edges.
Cherry Pie Filling & Assembly
- In a large bowl, mix cherries with sugar, lemon juice, and zest. Let sit for an hour or 2 at room temperature (or overnight in refrigerator) to draw out juice.
- Strain juice into a saucepan and stir in the juice from the lemon, salt, and lemon zest. Whisk in starch thickener until no lumps.
- Heat over medium to high heat stirring constantly with a whisk to cook into a beautiful gel-goo, this will only take a few short minutes and it will get very thick. Fold the mixture back into the cherries, and stir in butter to melt. Let cool while preparing pie dough.
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Roll out the pie crust dough to slightly thicker than 1/8-inch (slightly thinner than you would for full pie crust), cutting circles with a 3-1/2 inch cookie cutter.
- Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon on about 3 scant Tablespoons of pie filling for each hand pie.
- Cut out 3 stars (or other shapes) in each top crust (or you can put on top crust and use a knife to slice in vents).
- Wet the bottom crust with water or egg wash around the edge.
- Gently stretch the top crust over filling to edges of bottom, press firmly with finger tips to seal, then crimp with fork. .
- Brush with egg wash, sprinkle on large crystal sugar. Bake 22-25 minutes at 375.
