Berry Hand Pies
- Total Time
- 2¼ hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 hand pies
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- 1recipe Extra-Flaky Pie Crust
- 2large eggs, lightly beaten with a pinch of fine sea salt, for egg wash
- 2cups mixed fresh berries (about 12 ounces/350 grams), such as sliced strawberries or whole blackberries or blueberries
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- 2tablespoons cornstarch
- 1teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest plus 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
For the Dough
For the Filling
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
217 calories; 9 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 14 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 208 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Prepare the dough: On a floured surface, roll out each disk of dough into a 10-inch square, each about ⅛-inch thick. Using a 5-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 4 disks from each piece of dough. Transfer disks to a baking sheet (it’s OK if they overlap slightly), cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 10 minutes.
- Step 2
Prepare the berry filling: In a medium bowl, combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and juice, and sea salt. Stir gently until evenly coated, then set aside.
- Step 3
Remove the disks from the refrigerator and lightly brush the edges of each disk with the egg wash. Spoon about ¼ cup berry filling onto each disk, leaving a 1-inch border around the rim. (You might have some extra filling.)
- Step 4
Working with one disk at a time, leaving one half of the dough on the baking sheet, gently fold the other half of each round of dough over the filling to make a half circle and press the edges together with your fingers to seal. If any of the filling is oozing out of the sides, remove a few berries at a time until the hand pie seals easily. Using a fork, crimp the rounded edge of each hand pie. Repeat with remaining disks.
- Step 5
Cover the hand pies with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to set the crusts. Refrigerate the remaining egg wash.
- Step 6
When you are ready to bake, position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Step 7
Remove the hand pies from the refrigerator and brush the tops with the remaining egg wash. Using a paring knife, cut 3 small slits in the top of each hand pie to create steam vents. Transfer the hand pies to the lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the hand pies are golden and the filling is bubbly. Let cool for 10 minutes, then serve warm.
- Step 8
The hand pies can be cooled completely and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Tamara
These are great and well worth the effort... but I had quite a lot of oozing of filling while I was shaping them and challenges getting edges to stick. Some tips: After you put circles in the fridge, give them a quick extra roll because they shrink when cold and bigger = more filling. Less filling rather than more; 1/4 cup was too much for me. Use index finger for very light egg wash around edges. Keep a good amount of space for fork crimp. And don’t worry about oozing... all ends well!
Jen
Made these with freshly picked blackberries. Pastry is fun to make, super flaky & tasty! I doubled the recipe & froze half of the pies (before the egg wash/baking). For the 2nd batch, I cooked the filling on the stove until it started to thicken, & added a bit of cinnamon. More filling/pie! Cinnamon added nice warmth. Also sprinkled coarse sugar & cinnamon on top before baking. I had enough pastry left over to make 2 8” pie shells, & also extra filling (to add when eating!).
Ann
This was a HUGE hit with my picky partner who often complains that pies and tarts are either too sweet or too acidic for his taste -- this hit the sweet spot! I made the pies using just blueberries and it was delicious! One only needs 1 egg for the wash, and I'd say more like 1 1/2 cups of fruit, not 2. Pastry is super flaky! I got 10 pies out of the dough.
Carly W.
Wow, these turned out better than I could even imagine! I can confirm that these totally work with a store bought crust if you don’t have time to make it from scratch. I used fresh blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and while the combination tasted incredible, the raspberries caused a ton of leakage due to their moisture content so I’ll probably skip those next time. I also added Turbinado sugar to the tops for some extra sweetness and crunch. Seriously delicious.
Marlowee
To avoid syrup and oozing: Prepare sugar and cornstarch mixture, whisk thoroughly to combine and reserve. To make up : Place 1/4 cup of berries on each round and sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of sugar mixture on top.Shape per recipe.
Amy
I made this with fresh peaches, using Sam Sifton’s peach pie recipe for the filling (cut in half). I agree that you only need about 1 1/2 c. of filling. The crust came together perfectly—flaky layers of deliciousness. They are beautiful when baked!
DW99
If you mean substitute apples for berries* ( = use apples rather than berries), then I suggest that you par-cook the diced apples in a saucepan over a low heat. *One can't "sub" the original for the proposed replacement -- that's backwards. When in doubt, ask about using X rather than Y.
Foofy
No need to prepare these on a separate baking sheet. I filled the rounds on the parchment-covered sheet, refrigerated it and baked it all on the same sheet.
Randy
Let me preface this by saying I bake a LOT of pies. This recipe was a big fail. The instructions call for WAY too much filling, and if any of the liquid reaches the edges during assembly you'll never be able to seal them and the pastry will turn to goo. In the end, I had a sheet pan covered in filling. I wish I'd just baked a berry pie with lattice crust. To those of you for whom this recipe worked well, big kudos.
Linda M
Have made these three times using various berries and even cherries in—cheating here—pre-made pie crust and the most impressive—frozen puff pastry. Raves all around! I do a wash and sprinkle sugar outside the way I trim my pies and you cannot miss with this recipe!
So Bad
Recipe calls for way too much filling, the pie circles recommended are too small. A useless hand pie recipe with derivative filling recipe (doesn’t even tell you to mix cornstarch and sugar first so you end up with clumps). If the size and filling amount are wrong this is less helpful than just taking a guess - your intuition is probably better…
Hand Pies
I made these with leftover cut apple pie filling I make on the stove top. I am making them again, today with apples, cherries and peaches. Separate finger pies in the dumpling maker I use for pot stickers. Cannot wait to hear the raves at the New Year's Party tomorrow! Keep you posted!
Bim
If you dared, try this. Make a fortune note. Then make a very thick hand pie with no filling. Slice it in half, then put the note in the pie. Stick the other half to the first half. After you bake it, give it to someone. After they see the note, they will read it and do something that the note said. Have fun!
bim
If you can, you can make a fortune PIE if you managed to NOT put the berry filling. Write a fortune note on a paper, put it into a pie, then bake the pie. And don't worry about the paper.
DVB
I use Genevieve Ko’s all butter pie crust for these because it’s less work (there’s no smearing with the heel of your hand). I make it in my food processor. Comes out great every time. A real hit with my crowd.
Jesennia
Love this recipe and have made it many times!! I make them a bit bigger and w two pieces of dough each. This time I added a cream cheese filling w 8oz cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of sugar, one egg yolk, and little hit of vanilla and salt. Wow
DrT
Another fail here. The berries (extremely fresh and sweet) completely liquified after being sliced thin and put in the sugar/cornstarch mixture. No way to get filling in the 5 inch circle. So, I ended up putting the discs on top of one another to make a pie. Filling still oozed out and made the pie impossible to seal. How is this rated so high?
Stephanie
I took a lazy weeknight shortcut and used a food processor instead of cutting the butter into the dry ingredients for the crust. I also happened to have nothing but overripe strawberries on hand for making the filling. The result was a light, fluffy, biscuit-like crust with a sweet-tart middle. I essentially wound up with delicious strawberry shortcake pockets! I knew I wasn’t using the right technique to achieve the flakey crust promised, but the result was still lovely.
Dorn
Delicious crust and worth the effort. Used wild blueberries that I picked and froze last summer. Mixed the berries with the lemon juice, and in a different bowl mixed the cornstarch with the sugar. Followed a commenter’s suggestion to load the berry part onto the crust first, and then add the sugar mix on that before closing the hand pie. Resulted in minimal spillage. Excellent recipe. Definite crowd-pleaser. Thank you!
Ngrimmick
I made these hand pies with blueberries and they are perfect! Nice little treat that fits in the palm of your hand!
Seattle Stef
If cooking in an air fryer, set the temperature to 360 and air fry for ten minutes.
shelley
Hello has anyone made these ahead and stored them? I’m making a large quantity (about 60) for a party and would like to ale some ahead but I don’t want to compromise quality! Any advice appreciated.
Kyle
Pretty good. A lot of work but special. As others have said, the 1/4 cup of filling instruction is comical. I could only fit about 1 tablespoon of filling in each pie.
mls
Has anyone made these and frozen them BEFORE baking? If so, do you defrost before baking or not? at what oven temperature. These would make a school lunch treat! thanks!
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