Born to Hand Pie, Baby!

As I mentioned in my last post, I did some baking from a recipe found on Pinterest the other day and it was a HUGE success! Blueberry Hand Pies with an Orange Glaze.

Now, I really have no idea what makes it a hand pie. Perhaps it’s just the fact that it’s made by hand? Who knows? It was tasty anyway and it got a great little song in my head to sing while I baked!

I got the recipe from a pretty little blog called A Farmgirl’s Dabbles. Being a gal from South Dakota, the dabbling farmgirl’s recipe was perfect for those from across the pond but not so good for us Brits.

So, when attempting the recipe, I had to convert it and thought I would share my britified version for anyone else to try.

Check out the original version here.

Blueberry Hand Pies with Orange Glaze
Makes 12

Ingredients

For the pastry
11oz plain flour
1tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp salt
Orange zest from 1 large orange
8oz unsalted butter cut into small pieces
Roughly 90ml of cold water
1 large egg white beaten with 1tbsp water

For the cinnamon sugar
1oz sugar
pinch of cinnamon

For the blueberry filling
1 small punnet (about 250g/9oz) blueberries
2 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice
2oz brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cornflour

For the glaze
100g icing sugar
Approximately 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice


Instructions

So here we go...

First make the pastry.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt and orange zest. Rub in the butter until your pastry resembles chunky breadcrumbs.

Tip in some of the cold water, a little at a time, and mix together until the dough forms and sticks together. Make a ball shape then divide it in two. Place each piece into the fridge for about 1 hour while you prepare the other bits for your pies.







In a small bowl, beat together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water to create an egg wash. Leave this to the side for now.


Make the cinnamon sugar by mixing together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Put this aside.








Now it’s time to make the blueberry filling. In a small bowl, mix together the blueberries and orange juice before adding in the brown sugar, cinnamon and cornflour. Put this aside, too!






If your hour isn’t up yet, this recipe is a great one for allowing you to clear up as you go. I’m no neat freak in the kitchen so being able to do a little bit at a time really helped the kitchen not look like a certified disaster zone when I finished. This is especially important when all you want to do when the pies are done is to sit down and eat them!


Your hour is up so let’s put together the hand pies, baby!


Preheat the oven to 180˚ (160˚ for Fan) or GM4. You’ll need about 2 ‘normal’ size baking trays. I didn’t line my trays and found that the pies didn’t stick at all. Less clearing up for me!


Before you roll out your dough, you might be interested in a quick trick that I use to make sure that the pastry doesn’t stick to the unit top. I take a wet cloth and wipe over the unit, leaving just a very light glaze of water on the surface. Now sprinkle your flour on the surface and ensure it’s covered. The dampness should keep the flour steady and not transfer it to your dough (and change the make-up of your dough). It should also mean you don’t have to use so much flour and the dough should never stick. Hopefully!


Shape the first half of dough into a rectangle shape. Your rectangle should be 9”x12” which can then be cut into 12 3” squares. Move each square onto your baking trays.


Brush some egg wash over the surface of each square before dividing the blueberry mix equally into the middle of each square.



Now roll out the rest of the dough into another rectangle that measures 9”x12” and again cut it into 3” squares. Now place each of these squares over your first squares with the blueberries. Use a fork to crimp and join the edges of each pie. Now, take a sharp knife and cut a small ‘x’ into the top of each pie to stop it exploding when it’s in the oven.











Brush the rest of the egg wash over the top of each pie before sprinkling generously with the cinnamon sugar.

Pop in the over for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbling out the top or through the edges. It looks so rustic and tasty!


If you can bear it, wait about 10 minutes before transferring the pies to a wire rack to cool.

Now you can make the glaze.

Pop your icing sugar in a small bowl and start adding the fresh orange juice until the consistency is dribbles but isn’t too runny! Drizzle over the pies (making a huge mess in the process) then leave to cool - again if you can wait.

The pies are best served hot or warm on the day they are baked. They can be frozen but let’s be honest, there probably won’t be any left to freeze once everyone’s had a taste.

Delicious!