Confession: I’ve never had cherry pie before.
I know it’s weird. I LOVE pie. I bake pies. How have I never had cherry pie?
I guess it comes from the fact that when I think of cherry pie, I think of neon red concoctions from a can and a surfeit of high fructose corn syrup.
Once, when I was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at one of those Pennsylvania Dutch family style restaurants, I dipped my finger in a bit of cherry pie filling and it was so sweet my eyes bugged out of my face. Too much.
But when I saw these at the market the other day…
…I heard a certain Disney baboon’s voice in my head.
And so it was. Sweet Cherry Hand Pies were in order.
A lot of people use tart cherries in their pies, but we had sweet cherries at the market. And in the wise words of Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman, “Whoever said you can’t make a good cherry pie with sweet cherries was lying.”
I just added a bit of lemon juice for tartness and kept the amount of sugar relatively low. It worked swimmingly.
Sweet Cherry Hand Pies: Recipe Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Wash and halve your cherries…
And stir together the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Set aside.
To make the dough, pulse the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Add the water and form into a dough. Add a little more water if needed. This is based on Williams Sonoma’s recipe for basic pie dough, and they don’t call for any pre-chilling whatsoever, so yay! I’m just doin’ what the professionals are telling me.
Roll out the dough to a large rectangle about ¼ inch thick and cut out circles or squares (for circles, I used an inverted circular Tupperware container). Re-roll the dough and continue cutting until you have 10 circles. Place five of the circles on a baking sheet and divide the cherries among them.
At this point, you’re noticing the rivers of cherry juice flooding the baking sheet. I poured this off and reserved it…because you’ll want it in a second.
Cover with the other five circles, crimp closed…
And cut vents in the top. Now’s when that reserved cherry juice comes back in. Just use a little spoon to distribute all that goodness into the pies via the air vents. Without it, the pies will be dry.
Brush with egg wash.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until golden.
These are perfect for the 4th of July. You could even make them smaller for littler party desserts. Plus, we have an even more amazing follow-up recipe posting in a couple days. (UPDATE: Here’s the follow-up: No-Churn Bourbon Cherry Pie Ice Cream. Yup. We said it.)
If you possess superhuman self-control, save a coupla pies in your arsenal for that next recipe.
Until next time, folks!
Sweet Cherry Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 2 cups pitted fresh or frozen sweet cherries halved
- 1/3 cup sugar (you can also adjust to taste)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 11 tablespoons butter (about 150g)
- 4-5 tablespoons ice water
- Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Stir together the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Set aside.
- To make the dough, pulse the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Add the water and form into a dough. Add a little more water if needed.
- Roll out the dough to a large rectangle about ¼ inch thick and cut out circles or squares (for circles, I used an inverted circular Tupperware container). Re-roll the dough and continue cutting until you have 10 circles. Place five of the circles on a baking sheet and divide the cherries among them (reserve the excess juice). Cover with the other five circles, crimp closed, and cut vents in the top. Spoon the cherry juice into the pies through the air vents. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until golden.
You make it look so easy! I’m one of those who prefer the cherry pie wit the sweet cherrie, not too sweet though. Your pictures are just beautiful and I love that baking pan!! Thank you for linking up with us at the brand new Home Matters Linky! Please come back this Wednesday with more of your matters of the home posts!
Thanks Shirley!
You have a lovely welcoming blog. This looks delicious. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. Watch for your feature on Monday xo
Ohhh these look good! I would love to have you link it up to my Feature Friday Link Palooza!
Danielle @ Blissful & Domestic
http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/search/label/Feature%20Friday%20Linky%20Party
Thanks Danielle! Headed over there now!
Ooo, these look delicious. I love cherries and they usually just get eaten as they are. Time for a change I think.
Most definitely. We usually do the same, but it sounds like you’re having the same Rafiki moment that we did!
What size circles do you cut out?
Hi Yomi, I used a standard sized tupperware container to cut the circles out. You can also use a bowl. It’s really up to you the size you want them to be. Mine were about 4.5 inches/11 cm in diameter. Thanks for your question, Yomi!
Wow! Such a sweet, simple yet delightful pie. Love that they are minis!!
Thanks Anjana!
How did you know that cherry pies were my favorite? :) These look delicious and I actually just bought some cherrys at the grocery store this week!!
Telepathic, I guess. : )
Hi Sarah,
What a delight to find your beautiful blog. I saw you featured at Show Stopper Saturday and had to come see who was behind that fabulous photo!
Gorgeous, GORGEOUS PIES!! I’m so looking forward to exploring your lovely site. Thanks for a great recipe :)
Thank you for your sweet words Robyn! Looking forward to seeing more of you around here. : )
I love cherries and pie! Best of both worlds. This looks yummy. I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams, starts on Fridays :D Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party.
Thanks Shanice!
Simply Suzannes at Home
Hi Bill, Sarah and Girls!
Thanks so much for coming by and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate every one them.
Your website is beautiful! I’m looking forward to looking around.
Have a great weekend,
Suzanne
Thanks for your kind words, Suzanne!