Flaky Blueberry Hand Pies

Flaky Blueberry Hand Pies are tender, portable and convenient mini-pies. The golden and buttery crust has just the right amount of sweetness and is bursting with juicy blueberry filling. These rustic individual hand pies are simple, yet taste like they came from a high end bakery.

If you love blueberry desserts as much as I do, you might also like Creamy Blueberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Scones and Blueberry Cream Cheese Pastries

These amazing blueberry hand pies are so flaky and light, but at the same time are filled with intense buttery flavor. Perfect for this colder weather or to bring along on a picnic! The pastry crust is tender and melts in your mouth, yet holds up well to the blueberry filling.

The pastry is sturdy enough to hold in your hand, hence the name hand pie, and wonderfully flakey, buttery and crispy, all at once. It browns nicely on the bottom too. 

Why you'll love these

• Blueberry hand pies look chef made: This pastry recipe is really simple, yet looks professionally rustic and tastes even better.
• Easy to make and easy to roll! If you have messed up every pie crust recipe you can think of, but this is a dream to work with. These blueberry hand pies together with a little elbow grease, but after a couple chills the dough is supple and soft, and bakes up tender and fluffy!
• The best crust: Absolutely the best tasting and flakiest crust you'll ever make.

Dough Ingredients - Basic Flaky Hand Pie Crust

• All-purpose flour: I use all-purpose flour in blueberry hand pies and get consistently good results.
• Salt: Use salt, even when making pie crust for sweet pies. It makes the crust taste amazing.
• Butter: If you're looking for flakiness, cold butter is the way to go. You want the butter to be as solid as possible before working with it in the dough, so that it will keep its shape in layers rather than seeping into the dough and tenderizing it.
• Sour cream or Greek yogurt: Sour cream gives blueberry hand pies more moisture without making the dough too thin. It also adds more fat content resulting in a creamier batter and tastier pie.]
• Water: Use icy cold water when you make hand pie crust.

How to make hand pie dough

1. Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt.
2. Make pie dough: Add the cold butter and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces. You can use a food processor for speed and ease. Mix until the flour is well coated with the butter and turns a faint yellow color from the butter. At this point, you should also be able to press the mixture together with your fingers, and it should hold its shape. 
3. Add water and sour cream with care: Stir in the sour cream and cold water slowly until the dough comes together. Do not overmix. Mix with your hands just until the dough holds together. It's okay if you have a few loose crumbles.
4. Divide and refrigerate: Divide the dough in half, shaping each half into disks. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Blueberry Filling Ingredients

• Blueberries: Fresh or frozen
• Sugar: Granulated or white sugar.
• Lemon juice and vanilla extract: For flavor and color.
• Cornstarch: To thicken blueberry filling and ensure it's not runny.

How to make blueberry filling

1. In a small saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and berries begin to break down-about 5-7 minutes.
3. Let the filling cool completely before using.

How to make blueberry hand pies

Step 1. Roll out the dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of chilled dough (keeping the other in the refrigerator) to about ⅛ inch thick.

Step 2. Cut circles out of the dough: Cut into 8 rectangles or use a round cutter for circles. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Step 3. Add cutouts to the baking sheet: Arrange the circles or rectangle shaped pie crusts on a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper. 

Step 4. Place a spoonful of cooled filling in the center of half the cutouts (1-2 tablespoons depending on the size of your crusts).

Step 5. Brush with egg and seal: Brush beaten egg around the edges to help the seal stick. Top with remaining dough pieces or fold over. Press edges with a fork to seal.

Step 6. Make slits at the top: Cut small slits in the tops of blueberry filled hand pies for steam to escape.

Step 7. Optional: Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.

Step 8. Bake and cool: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy warm or room temperature.

Tips for success

• Use cold butter: You will be really impressed with the difference in flakiness that the cold butter method makes.
• You can make dough by hand: If you don't have a food processor, you can easily make this hand pie crust by hand. I recommend using a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the flour. It's a great tool to have in general if you like to bake.
• If the dough doesn't come together: In the beginning, if it looks like it won't come together, but use your bench scraper and push the dough into your rectangle and do the folds-that gives the layers and the flakes. By the last fold it will hold together.
• Refrigerate the dough before rolling it out: I refrigerated the hand pie dough for about 45 minutes before rolling it out and had no problem with either sticking or manipulating the circles.
• Strong dough: A great hand pie dough is light enough to flake, yet it's strong enough to hold up to juicy fillings without turning soggy. The dough isn't crumbly.
• Filling can be customized: Try blackberries, raspberries, or a mixed berry blend.
• Don't overfill the pies to avoid leaks.
• If making circular crusts, it helps to slightly shape the top crust into a slight dome by pressing into the center of the top cutout before crimping.
• Refrigerate hand pies: If you don't have time to bake immediately, put the shaped pies in the refrigerator until it is time to bake (and the oven has preheated).

FAQ

• What can I use instead of cornstarch? You can addd more flour to thicken the blueberry mixture. You can also cook down your filling on the stove top to evaporate some of the liquid. Or use tapioca.
• Can I use frozen berries?
  Yes! No need to thaw-just increase bake time slightly and stir frequently.
• Can I freeze hand pies before baking?
  Absolutely. Assemble and freeze unbaked pies on a tray, then transfer to a freezer bag. Bake from frozen, adding 5-7 minutes to the cook time.
• What's the best way to reheat them?
  Reheat in a 325°F oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp the crust and warm the filling.
• Can I make this gluten-free?
  Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend and keep the dough cold. Results may vary slightly, and this method was not pre-tested.

Variations to the recipe

I love the blueberry filling but because I often experiment...I have added pears to the blueberries, made it with just apple filling, cherries, and even apple pear and sour cherries. These always turn out great, and everyone loves them.

• Use Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream.
• Make a double batch if you are taking these as treats!
• Mix cream cheese with apricot, or frangipane with peach preserves. 
• Add a simple glaze (just with powdered sugar/vanilla extract/milk) on top of the blueberry hand pies for extra sweetness!

Make Ahead/Refrigerate/Freeze

• Make the dough ahead: Dough can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the fridge, or frozen up to 1 month.
• Make blueberry filling ahead: You can make the filling one day ahead and stored it in the plastic covered glass bowl in the refrigerator.
• Refrigerate the dough: The dough rests beautifully in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• Freeze: You can also freeze these prior to baking so that you can bake them as you feel like it instead of having 10 (dangerous) hand pies around at one time. They still come out fantastic. Can't even tell they were frozen.

Kitchen tools you'll need

Mixing bowls, pastry cutter or food processor, rolling pin, saucepan, measuring cups and spoons, parchment paper, baking sheet, fork or crimper, pastry brush (optional).

More delicious blueberry recipes

• Blueberry Cheesecake
• Peach and Blueberry Puff Pastry
• Blueberry Scones
• Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake

Delicious mini desserts

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Strawberry Mini Cheesecakes

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries