Peach hand pies
Hand pies are aptly named,
because they are literal mini pies in the palm of your hands.
The true beauty of them is that they exist in many variations across many cultures. While they might go by another name, such as a Jamaican patty, empanadas, and even calzones, hand pies are a universal truth. A cross-cultural experience that says to the world, “We want portable pies.”
They can be any shape or size, and can have just about any filling you can imagine. For me the first filling that came to mind were peaches. Specifically peach cobbler.
There’s the well known biscuit topping for cobblers, but my deep love of peach cobbler stems from the type of cobbler with a thick pie crust. Some might even argue that it's just a pie, and I wouldn’t say that they’re wrong, but just as with any dessert it has its cultural, and even regional variations.
This recipe uses store dough pie dough, but you can definitely use homemade pie dough as well!
Baker’s note: What is blanching?
Blanching is a food technique that quickly submerges food in boiling water and then cold water. The most common food items are fruits, veggies and nuts.
Blanching can be used for a variety of reasons, but for this recipe we’re doing it to quickly remove the skin from the peaches.
Peach hand pies
Ingredients
- One box, ready to bake pie crust (One box should have 2, 9 inch round pie crusts)
- 2 cups (4-5 peaches or about 600g) peaches, blanched and diced
- ¼ cup (50g) white granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar
- ½ Tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- ½ cup (50g) powdered sugar
- ½ Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1 Tbsp milk
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cut a shallow ‘x’ slit on the bottom of the peach. This will make peeling the peaches easier after blanching.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, using enough water to submerge the peaches.
- Once boiling carefully place peaches into water for 40 seconds up to 1 minute. The amount of times depends on the size of the peaches.
- Transfer peaches to a bowl of ice water and let soak until peaches have cooled down.
- Once cooled, peel the peach skin off starting where you made the ‘x’ slit. The skin should easily peel off.
- Dice the peaches into medium sized pieces and transfer to a medium sized sauce pan.
- On the stove top, over medium heat add both sugars, nutmeg and cinnamon to the diced peaches. Stir and let come to a simmer.
- Once peaches are soft and have released some liquid add in the cornstarch, and stir until fully incorporated. Let simmer until the filling thickens.
- Remove from heat and let cool for about 30 minutes.
- Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 425°F.
- While the filling is cooling, prepare the pie dough by letting it soften for about 15 minutes and then carefully rolling it out.
- Cut the dough into 5 inch circles. To get 14 circles of dough, I gathered the excess dough pieces, and rolled out the dough again. I did this twice.
- Scoop about ½ Tbsp of filling* on a dough circle and carefully fold the dough over the filling to create a half circle. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal the hand pie.
- Prick dough with a fork to create holes, or use a knife to create slits*.
- Create an egg wash by beating together 1 large egg and about 2 Tbsp of water. Brush the tops of the hand pies with the egg wash and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Let the hand pies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool.
- While the hand pies are cooling, prepare the glaze in a small bowl. Whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, maple extract, milk and a pinch of salt until fully combined.
- Spoon glaze over hand pies and let set for about 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
*Be sure not to overfill the hand pies. The crust can burst and break if you use too much.
*Creating holes or slits in the dough before baking will help in preventing the hand pie dough from bursting.
Hand pies can be kept at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerated for up to 5 days. Reheat if desired.
