Strawberry Hand Pies

We're in full swing with strawberries here in Georgia. We went picking last weekend and got 5 buckets full of strawberries. I froze some, made smoothies, made syrup (post on that coming soon.)

It's been a week now and I need to do something with the remaining strawberries in the fridge before I have to throw them out.

Then my friend over at Les Repas de Mon Enfrance: Growing Up Franco-American, posts this wonderful Mocha Crunch Cake. He's french and one thing the french know how to do is bake. This cake is on my list of things to make. But I start wandering through his pictures, so much to drool over and I find his recipe for Blueberry Hand Pies.


Solution found. I can easily adapt this recipe for strawberries and I have everything on hand.

Strawberry Hand Pies
adapted from Les Repas de Mon Enfrance: Growing Up Franco-American

2-9 inch pie crusts
2 cups washed and cut strawberries
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teapoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/2-1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water
sugar for dusting

Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lemon zest, whisk till well combined. Set aside. Combine strawberries and lemon juice, make sure strawberries chunks aren't too large, smaller is definitely better.

Combine egg yolk with water to create an egg wash, whisk well.
I used Pillsbury Frozen Pie Crusts so I just unrolled them onto a cutting board. Cut pie crusts into 4 sections.

Place a good spoonful of your strawberry mixture in the center of each section. Be careful not to put too much of the juicy syrup, trust me on this, it will all ooze out onto your baking tray.

Now fold over from one outside edge to the other, creating an envelope, filled with your strawberry goodness.

Brush inside edges with egg wash then using a fork, press to seal edges.

Place pies in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking.

Place pies on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. poke tops with fork to allow steam to escape.  Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until tops are the perfect golden brown, just like you want a pie crust to be. Let cool on pan for 30 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.

This recipe will be perfect for any fruit or berry, just adapt your lemon juice to fit the fruit. On the original recipe with blueberries it called for 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. This was too much for the natural juiciness of the strawberry but would be perfect for apples or pears.

I see a lot more hand pies in our future.

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