I am always, always, always up for a nice warm slice of cherry pie. However, now that it is just me and the Southern husband in the house these days, making an entire pie is not something I tend to do. When you have loads of teenagers gallavanting in and out of your kitchen you can get away with making entire pies, and as soon as they all come home for the holidays I’ll rev up the pie-baking. In the meantime, however, I am making these individually delectable little cherry hand pies.
And to make things even better, the two main ingredients for these babies are puff pastry and cherry jam. Luckily for me, due to a series of very fortunate events, I had the world’s best cherry jam right in my pantry. Here’s why.
Last summer the always wonderful Stonewall Kitchen ran a contest for bloggers to create recipes based on some of their new mustards. I love a good challenge, so I took a jar of their delectable Spicy Honey Mustard and made me some ham and grilled pineapple biscuit sliders all slathered with the mustard. I sent in my recipe, and a while later Stonewall Kitchen let me know that lo and behold, I had WON! And my prize was in the mail!
I love winning. Especially when it ends in gigantic boxes full of delicious goodies. We opened up that box in about ten seconds flat, and inside THAT box was another box. And inside that second box….
Oh, the deliciousness.
I would just like to state for the record that I was an exceedingly good sharer when it came to all this wonderfulness. (You know who you are.) But there were a few things that I wasn’t prepared to share.
Which (finally!) brings me to these delectable little pies. All you have to do is spoon a little of this wonderful jam onto triangles of puff pastry. Seal the edges together with a little egg yolk, freeze them for just a little bit until they are firm, then pop them in the oven and about 20 minutes later they are golden and wonderful.
Now drizzle them with a little bit of glaze made out of lemon juice and powdered sugar, and all that’s left to do is luxuriate in a little cherry pie that is yours and yours alone.
Until the teenagers come back, at least.
Cherry Jam Hand Pies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 individual pies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
- 1 cup cherry or other jam
- 1 egg yolk, beaten with a tablespoon of water
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Place puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll with a rolling pin until 1/8 inch thickness. Cut each sheet into 4 quarters, and place the quarters on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.
- Place a heaping 1-2 tablespoons of jam in the center of each piece of dough. Brush the dough edges with egg yolk and fold them over to form a triangle. Press the edges firmly closed.
- Put the pies in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm them up.
- Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
- While the pies are cooling slightly, make the glaze by mixing the sugar and the lemon juice with a fork. Drizzle the glaze over the warm pies.
- Cool another 10 minutes or so and serve at once…these babies need to be eaten shortly after they are made for maximum deliciousness!
Laura says
How long can you leave the pies in the freezer before baking? a day, week, month? Or only the 30 min.
Hi Laura! You can definitely freeze them for a month or two, but you’ll want to be able to take them out and let them defrost a little before baking so they are not frozen solid, just cold. Hope this helps! :)
ColleenB says
First, Congratulations on your winning prizze.
Fantastic recipe. My hubby will love these.
Thank you for the recipe
ColleenB.
Kate says
You are so welcome – hope he loves ’em!
Rachel says
5 days without power! That’s terrible – how are you coping? Do you have a generator?
Re the pies, bet they would be nice with some stewed apple and cinnamon as well. I used to love those Hostess Cherry pies when I was younger, especially in my school lunch box.
Kate says
We have a generator running some of the essentials (water pump, some lights, the fridge) but are expecting another week to two weeks before it is back. NJ got hit very hard. But I do have my gas stovetop and bbq grill, so I’ll still be cooking! :)
Joanne says
Sometimes I want pie…but not a WHOLE pie, if you know what I mean. these are perfectional! And woot woot on winning! You’re a rockstar.
Kate says
Aw, thanks! Going on our 5th day with no power, I need someone with electricity to bake me some of these. I promise to eat all of them. :)
Mike says
I love cherry pies, but when I worked on drilling rigs it was always considered bad luck to bring one in your lunch box. There were quite a few taboo things, but that was at the head of the list.
I’ve never been superstitious, knock on wood.
Kate says
I’ve never heard that! You learn something new every day. :)