Blackberry Hand Pies Perfect for Summer

Rob and I have always had a huge love for food, and we love to cook and try out new recipes. Being stuck at home the past couple months, that means Rob and I have had a lot of extra time to have some fun cooking and trying new recipes at home. Our sweet neighbors came by the other day and brought us a huge case of fresh blackberries. I think they must’ve known I’ve been craving a lot of fruits and vegetables with this pregnancy. It was so incredibly kind of them to share their haul with us.

As I put them away in the fridge, I thought about how there was no way that I was going to be able to eat them all before they went bad. I really didn’t want to have to freeze that much either. I immediately started thinking of what I could make with a portion of them while keeping enough to eat fresh and enough to freeze for later. Rob suggested a blackberry pie, and I immediately thought of hand pies that we saw Sean Brock’s pastry chef make on a show we watched recently. Not only would they be the perfect portion size for a sweet treat, but we’d be able to easily share back with our sweet neighbors.

Today on the blog, I can’t want to share with you this amazing recipe that I hope your family enjoys as much as we did!

Blackberry Hand Pie Recipe

These blackberry hand pies were amazingly delicious and no doubt absolutely perfect for summer. My favorite thing about these hand pies is that they aren’t overly sweet, and the fresh fruit makes them taste refreshing (rather than super processed.) Not only would they be the perfect dessert for the whole family (paired with vanilla ice cream, of course!) But, they would also be the perfectly portioned and guest friendly dessert at a summer BBQ or cookout. I think they’d especially be perfect for a 4th of July cookout after a long day at the lake or pool!

Ingredients:

1 Package (2 Crusts) – Refrigerated Pie Dough
12 oz (2 Containers) – Fresh Blackberries
1/4 cup – Sugar
1 tbsp – Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp – Cinnamon
1 Egg – beaten
Additional Sugar for Topping

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Prepare the hand pie filling by rinsing the blackberries well, cutting them in half, and placing them into a medium-sized bowl. Add in the sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Mix well.
Place a rectangle of parchment paper on your counter. Lay out the pie crusts (I prefer to work with one at a time.), and gently roll them out to be 1/4″ thickness, if they aren’t already.
Using a large cookie cutter (or other round object), cut out circles about 5 inches across.

Mine were slightly bigger than 5″, and I was able to make 8 hand pies with 2 pie crusts. Next time I make these, I plan to use a 4″ inch cookie cutter to be able to make possibly 10. The filling amount in this recipe was enough to make about 10 hand pies.

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Eye ball this. You want enough filling to make it nice and full but not too full where you’re unable to close the pies.

I used a slotted spoon for this part to make sure I had some but didn’t have a ton of excess liquid inside each hand pie. You can also add 3 tbsp of flour to the mixture if you’d like it to be thicker and avoid any excess liquid issue.

Fold the dough over, and press the edges firmly with your fingertips to seal. I also went around the edges with a fork to make sure the edges were fully sealed (and for decoration!) If the hand pies aren’t properly sealed, they’ll pop open and seep everywhere when you bake.
Using a knife, gently cut three small slits on the top of each hand pie.
Brush each hand pie with the beaten egg, and sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top.
Bake your hand pies for 20 minutes, or until they are slightly golden brown and flaky. Let them cool slightly (they’ll be bubbling inside when they come out!), and enjoy!

Well there you have it, friends! I hope you enjoyed this blackberry hand pie recipe as much as I did. These blackberry hand pies are no doubt absolutely perfect for summer. Not only would they be the perfect dessert for the whole family (paired with vanilla ice cream, of course!) But, they would also be the perfectly portioned and guest friendly dessert at a 4th of July cookout. If you end up making them, make sure to let me know how you liked them in a comment below!