Cherry Hand Pies
You’re almost there, the finish line is in sight – it’s the last week of school! In fact, there’s probably so little actual learning going on this week it’s hardly school at all. So, let’s just move on to sweet, sweet summah time, shall we? With Canada Day and Independence right around the corner we’re thinking about all the entertaining we’ve got planned this summer. Whether or not you’re putting on a big to-do for those holidays, you’re probably going to have people over in some shape or form in the next two months.
Our prescription is always the same (in any season, actually): save your soul. Whenever you’re having people over you want to do as much as possible in advance. Anything that can be done the night before or the morning of, should be. My other new passport to the land of sane hostessing is giving the kids a few decorating projects the day or a dinner party. Last Thanksgiving I had them spend an hour at our local park searching for the most perfect maple leaves to adorn our table. Sometimes I ask them to create place cards for everyone. Obviously my real goal is keeping them busy while I’m prepping. Cause I’m sneaky like that.
These pies are perfect for a party you’re hosting but also easy to bring along to a picnic or a barbecue you’ve been invited to. Make them a day ahead and you can either warm them up a bit right before serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or just pass them out at room temperature. The cuteness is the same either way.
photos by Maya Visnyei
Ingredients
- Dough
- 1 3/4 cups of flour
- 8 tsps sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 4 to 6 Tbsps ice cold water
- Plus: one egg and a splash of water and some coarse sugar to sprinkle on top
- Filling
- 2 cups of pitted cherries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp flour
- pinch of salt
Method
Make your dough first as it will need time to chill before you roll it out.
Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and give it a quick pulse to mix everything together. Add the cold butter and pulse again until the mixture looks like coarse sand.
Now start adding the cold water - only 4 Tbsps to begin with and see how that goes - and keep pulsing.
It should come together in a ball in about a minute. Ad more water if you need to. I didn't.
Scoop your ball of dough out of the food processor and place on a work surface.
Use your hands to shape it into a flat disc.
Wrap it up in wax paper or cling film and chill it in the fridge for at least an hour
Once your hour is up, you can take the dough out of the fridge and place it on the counter to warm up slightly.
Now preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Toss the cherries, sugar, flour and salt together in a bowl.
Roll out your dough quite thinly. The recipe called for 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch thick but just roll it as thin as you can without it becoming transparent.
Use a 3 or 4 inch heart cookie cutter to cut out the dough.
Place half of the hearts on the parchment lined trays
Scoop about 2 tsps of cherry filling into the middle of each heart on the baking tray.
Work pie by pie as the filling may start to spread and give you a hard time. Place the top piece of dough on and make a criss cross vent on top.
Use a fork to crimp down the edges of each pie.
Keep going until all the pies have tops.
Now whisk an egg and splash of water together in a small bowl.
Brush this egg wash over the top of the pies.
Then sprinkle with your coarse sugar.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly on the tray before removing them to a cooling rack
You may have some thoughts about getting ahead and making your filling in advance or even as soon as you place the dough in the fridge. I did and it was a big mistake – the cherries released all of their juices and there was no way they were going to sit politely in my little hearts of dough instead of spilling everywhere.
To the other half of your hearts you’ll need to cut some vents. You can make a small criss cross or get clever like I did and cut out another little heart. This is a lot of trouble and baking will obliterate all your efforts. I’m just saying.
.Serve with love. Ahhhhh.
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We're Ceri and Laura, a couple of magazine-editors-turned-food-bloggers. Also, we're mothers obsessed with delicious, healthy, family food. We're constantly thinking of ways to make your time (and our own!) in the kitchen easier and more productive, but still nostalgic for the days when dinner was cereal eaten over the kitchen sink.
2 Comments
REEVES
June 26, 04:18IMHO this type of horseshit is the WORST type of corporate welfare. I was so proud of Ralph Nader. About 10 or so years ago the NE Pats were holding Ma. hostage and the city of Hartford[crumbling, crime ridden] proposed building a stadium to lure the Pats. Nader is a native Nutmegger and he lead a drive to stop it. Of course, the taxpayers of the Bay State footed the bill for a brand new stadium.
Carroll
June 26, 16:44This is sort of the same for most of the schools that still carry these sorts of nicknames. The Seminole tribe asked FSU to be “Seminoles”, I think, when the school first became co-ed in the 40s