When I first moved to the city in sixth grade, I was in awe of all the freedom it gave me. For the first time in my life, I walked home from school alone, meaning I could stop at any place I wanted along the way, and no one would know. And of course, to me this meant stopping every day at the 7-11 near my school for a snack. Sometimes it was for a blue raspberry/cherry slurpee, but most of the time it was for the cherry hand pies. I thought (and to be quite honest), still think they’re one of the world’s best culinary creations. From the thick, glazed, buttery dough to the gooey cherry filling, everything about this pie is immaculate. Which is why I had to attempt to make it myself.

It was actually fairly simple: I started out making a standard pie crust, then used some of my leftover mango and pineapple filling from my coconut cookies because I was lazy(but really, any fruit will do), then sealed and baked the hand pies.

I also rehydrated the filling with some water and honey to make it a little sweeter. But that’s totally optional and depends on your filling consistency.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to get them right on the first try, but these turned out amazingThey’re the perfect little dessert, or afternoon pick me up, with a tall glass of cold milk or a caffeinated beverage of your choice.

pineapple mango hand pies

makes: 8

cooking time: 1 hr 15 minutes

ingredients

1/2 cup + 1 tbs. AP flour
1/4 cup + 2 tbs. unsalted cold butter
3 tbs. cold water
2 tbs. granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbs. milk + more if necessary
1 cup of the pineapple filling from the browned butter coconut cookie sandwiches
1 tbs. honey

recipe

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a food processor, blend together the flour, butter, water and granulated sugar.
Shape the dough into a round disk, then let chill in the fridge for at least half an hour
Roll out dough on a floured surface, and cut out circles.
In center of each circle of dough, spoon approximately a tablespoon of filling. Fold dough over and seal with a fork.
Top the hand pies with egg yolk, and bake in the oven for approximately 30-35 inutes, or until pastry is golden brown.
Meanwhile make the filling: whisk milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla, until it creates a runny glaze.
Once you take the hand pies out of the oven, let the hand pies fully cool, then dip in glaze and place on cooling rack. This step is especially essential because if the glazed pies don’t cool on a drying rack, they will get soggy bottoms. Imagine the horror if Mary Berry found out.