in any case, for some reason i had a craving for one of those hostess fruit pies that you get at the grocery store for 99 cents with the sweet crust and the uber sweet pie filling. they probably have 20 grams of sugar in it, but thats ok because their selling point is that theres no high fructose corn syrup in it = healthier for you?! HA!
so i decided to make my own version of these delightful goodness i call blueberry hand pies..
not many of you know that i have a dairy allergy. yes, it sucks being allergic to dairy since a lot of tasty things in this world have some sort of dairy:
* pastries: pies, cakes (this includes cupcakes), pastries, danishes
* alfredo sauce!
* pizza
* mac and cheese
* you get the picture
however, i've found the lovely world of whole foods carries a lot of vegan products that i can use to substitute for, which is what i did for the pie pastry used for these hand pies.since i didn't have a food processor, the crust was made by hand and they came out quite tasty. i also did not use the blueberry pie filling that you find in the baking aisle, rather i went healthy and made my own blueberry filling.
if i could have ice cream.. a scoop of it would be fantastic atop one of these treats fresh from the oven.. you guys will have to let me know how it is a la mode style!
though making it yourself takes a little more time than say opening a waxy paper packaged fruit tart, it was well worth it! oh, not to mention, healthier since i know every ingredient that went into these little pocket of goodness.
recipe
ingredients:
pie crust-
* 2 1/2 cups of flour
* 1 cup of butter (i used vegan butter but regular unsalted butter is fine).. cold and cubed.. smaller the better
* 1 teaspoon (tsp) salt
* 1 tsp sugar
* 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cold water
filling-
* 1 bag of frozen blueberries.. you can use other fruits here if you want like raspberries, strawberries, apricots
* 2 tablespoon (tbs) sugar.. if you like your filling to be sweeter.. you can add up to 4 tablespoons
* 2 tbs tapioca starch (cornstarch works well here too.. this is just to thicken the juices from the blueberries)
glaze for the top of the pies-
* 1 tbs melted butter (a egg wash works well here too.. which is 1 egg beaten with a spash of water)
* 1 tbs coarse sugar
hardware:
* oven... hahaha i think everyone has one of these now a days
* baking sheet
* rolling pin
* parchment paper .. not really a hardware but more of a supply
* bowl for blueberry mixture
* bowl for pie crust
* fork or pastry cutter
* spatula
steps:
1) pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees
2) make the pie crust.
> mix well together flour, sugar, salt
> using the fork (or pastry cutter for you fancy people out there) cut the chilled cold butter into the flour mixture
> cut the butter into the flour until it is lumpy and looks like wet sand.. you want to get the flour and butter to be friends
> add cold water 1 tbs at a time until the dough starts to form and clump together. you want to see the dough have pea sized butter all throughout
> note: do not over mix or else the dough will be tough. you may not need to use all of the water.
> take the dough out and knead it for a couple of minutes so it comes together
> separate into 2 batches, wrap it up, flatten into a disk and store away in the fridge for 30 mins.
** if this sounds hard or you dont have the time.. you can always buy pie crust in the fridge of the grocery store and use that.
3) make the blueberry filling
> mix in blueberries, tapioca starch and sugar together
**again, if this sounds hard or you dont have the time.. you can buy the canned pie filling... but why would you do such a thing.. its 3 ingredients!
4) let's make some hand pies!
> 1 of the take out the chilled and rested pie crust dough (1/2 of the yield we made earlier)
> cut the dough in half ....so you have 1/2 of the 1/2 = 1/4 .. it is just easier to work with a smaller ball of dough
> dust your working surface and your rolling pin with flour so the dough doesn't stick to it
> dust the pie crust dough with some flour on both sides
> roll the dough out into a long rectangle to the desired thickness.. i like it thin so i rolled it out to be about 1/8 inch thick
> cut the dough into your desired shape (circle for half moon shaped pies.. rectangles for square pop tart looking pies)
> on half of the dough, stab the dough with a fork to make some air vents
> on the other side of the dough, add in 2 tps of the blueberry filling
> fold over the pierced side so the vents are on the top and press together the seams
> using the fork again, crimp the sides to seal the pockets
> brush on the melted butter and sprinkle some coarse sugar on the top
> repeat with the remaining dough
4) bake these cute little pockets
> using a spatula, place your pockets onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
> bake these pies for 13-15 minutes .. this is just a guess since it depends on how big your pies are and your oven
> note: keep a watch on these guys after 10 mins since you don't want them the edges to burn. it is ok if the juices flow out, thats the best part!
5) eat and enjoy!
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