Egyptian pharaohs, European kings (and queens!) and Cornish miners all ate them. Beggars ate the crusts. Now, they are hot on the culinary scene again and they are delicious.
Hand pies!
Hand pies originated when some smart cook realized that there was a workaround for the fact that foods cooked in early clay ovens burned and dried out as their juices drained into the fires. The problem, they found, could be fixed by encasing the food (mostly meat) inside a several-inch-thick crust and baking the food/pie longer and at a lower heat. As a bonus, the food became portable. When it was time to eat, the thick crust could be broken away and the food consumed. The crusts could then be discarded, used as a thickening roux for stews or handed out to beggars.
According to The American Pie Council, fruit pies didn’t become popular until the 1500s in Europe where their popularity quickly spread among the elite who could afford sweeteners. Reportedly, Elizabeth I was a foodie with a legendary sweet tooth. New World conquests, settlements, and trade had dramatically increased the availability of sugar for English cooks. Elizabeth’s kitchens are credited, bless them, with the first cherry pies.
European pie baking was brought to the Americas by colonists, first as meat pies and then sweet pies as settlers became more familiar with local ingredients.
You can find a lot of Internet postings about hand pies right now. Sur La Table had a class teaching how to make a buttered raspberry hand pie and King Arthur Flour featured this blueberry hand pie recipe as one of its bakealongs. (What’s a bakealong? KAF features one baking recipe each month on its wonderful site. The idea is that readers bake the recipe and then share questions, ideas and outcomes. Whole Grain Banana Bread (here )and Lemon Bliss Bundt Cake ( here) –recipes previously shared on this site– were bakealongs.)
Save RecipeIngredients
- 8 1/2 ounces (2 C.) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 t. salt
- 1/2 t. baking powder
- 8 ounces (1 C.) cold unsalted butter
- 4 ounces (1/2 C.) cold sour cream
- 2 C. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 ounce (2 T.) cornstarch
- 2 3/8 ounces (1/3 C.) sugar
- 1/8 t. salt
- 1/2 ounce (1 T.) lemon juice
- (Note: If you are using frozen berries, increase the amount of cornstarch to 2 1/2 T.)
- 1 large egg (*beaten)
- 7/8 ounce (2 T.) white sparkling sugar (for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Using your hands or a processor, mix in the butter. You want the butter to be in large, pea-sized pieces distributed through the flour.
- Stir in the sour cream until the sour cream is incorporated into the flour mixture and until the flour mixture begins to come together. I found this was a pretty crumbly mixture at this point; it didn't come together into a solid ball until I kneaded it a few times on my counter.
- Turn the dough out onto your counter (lightly floured) , knead it a few times to form it into a ball and then shape it into a rough log. Next, using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into an 8 inch by 10 inch rectangle. Dust both sides of the rectangle with flour and, starting with the shorter end, fold the dough into three parts like a business letter.
- Turn your dough over and give it a 90 degree turn. Roll it out again into an 8 inch by 10 inch rectange. Again, fold it into three.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Wash and drain your berries if you are using fresh berries. Put the berries into a saucepan. Whisk cornstarch and sugar together and pour over the berries. Add salt and lemon juice and stir. Heat this mixture over medium-high heat until the liquid in the pan begins to simmer. Then turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 5 minutes. Be sure to stir the mixture as it is cooking and take it off the heat when it begins to thicken.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll into a 14 inch by 14 inch square. Cut the dough into 3 1/2 inch squares. You will have sixteen squares. If the dough begins to heat up and becomes sticky and hard to handle, put it back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so. I've had to do this and the dough firmed up nicely.
- Place one heaping tablespoonful of the blueberry filling on each of 8 squares. Brush the edges of the squares with beaten egg; this will help seal the edges of the pies.
- Cut vent holes in each of the remaining squares. Place these dough squares over the squares with the blueberry filling. Press the edges closed using the tines of a fork.
- Brush the top of each hand pie with beaten egg and sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Again, if the dough has become soft and sticky, put the hand pies into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to firm up.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes at 425 degrees F. When they are done, your hand pies will be a light golden brown color.
- Remove the hand pies from the oven and let them cool on your counter for about 20 minutes.
This hand pie recipe is adapted from one that appears on the King Arthur Flour site. Here is the link: King Arthur’s Blueberry Hand Pies .
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