These cherry lime hand pies are flaky, golden pastries filled with juicy cherries and tart lime zest. The perfect personal dessert!
Author:Kate Wood
Prep Time:45
Cook Time:30
Total Time:1 hour 15 minutes
Yield:7
Ingredients
1 Recipe Pie Dough (See Notes)
¾ Pound Sweet Cherries, stemmed, cored, and quartered
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Zest of 1 lime (about 1–1/2 teaspoons)
1 egg
Turbinado or sparkling sugar (optional)
Instructions
Add the cherries and lime juice to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes until the cherries have softened and the juices have released.
In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and lime zest. Add the sugar mixture to the cherry mixture and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Remove to a heat safe dish and allow to cool completely to room temperature on the counter or in the fridge.
Once the cherries are cooled, roll out the pie dough until it is 1/8” thick. Use a 4” biscuit cutter (see notes) to cut out flat circles of dough for the hand pies. Combine the scraps and, avoiding overworking the dough, re-roll it and continue cutting circles. Place the circles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Work quickly so that your dough stay chilled. If it gets too warm, put the sheet pan in the freezer or fridge briefly.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Use a pastry brush to paint the perimeter of each dough circle. This will help your edges to stick and crimp together nicely. Spoon out 1 tablespoon of cherry lime filling into the center of each circle and fold them in half, pinching the edge of each half circle to seal. You can use a pastry cutter or the back of a fork to crimp the edges to further seal. Place the sheet pan of hand pies in the freezer to firm up for 2 hours or until well frozen.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the hand pies with the egg and water mixture and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar if desired. Using a paring knife, cut three small slits in the bottom half of each pie to vent the filling. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the pies are golden and well baked. Allow to cool briefly before enjoying.
Notes
See my blog archives for my favorite pie dough. You will need ½ of that recipe. You can save the remaining half in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
If you don’t have a 4” biscuit cutter, you can use a glass or a bowl with a 4-4-1/2” diameter as your stencil and cut the circles out with a knife. I used a rim of a martini glass for my stencil! Do not use a smaller cutter or stencil, as you will not have enough room to put adequate filling in your pies.