I remember, when we moved into our house. We had been living in a two bedroom condo for the past five years, and I was so excited to have a space to invite all our family and friends over. I decided to throw a Valentine's Day party. I made a candy charcuterie board and I got all my heart shaped cookie cutters out to make my sourdough discard sugar cookies. My mom put on the football game, and we BBQed while the kids played in our back yard.
Valentine's Day is a fun excuse to make some adorable heart themed treats! This year I made heart cherry hand pies. This is my go to pie dough recipe, I used it for my pumpkin hand pies with nutmeg icing, make the pie dough in the food processor for extra ease. I also found the most adorable heart sprinkles at Trader Joe's that inspired these cherry hand pies.
Ingredients:
For the pie dough
600g (3cups) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
284g (20 tablespoons) cold butter, diced
170-284g (12-20 tablespoons) ice water
1 egg and 2 tablespoons of water, for the egg wash
For the cherry filling
1, 16oz bag of frozen cherries
99g (1/2 cup) white sugar
juice of 2 small blood oranges or lemons
For the strawberry icing
2 tablespoons freeze dried strawberries, ground (optional)
114g (1 cup) powdered sugar
Milk, add to desired consistency
Heart sprinkles, (optional)
Makes 16-18 pies depending on the size of the cookie cutter.
Method:
First make the cherry filling, add all the ingredients to a small pot and bring to a simmer. Use a stick blender or a fork to blend the filling. Simmer until the cherries thicken and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Make the pie dough by adding the flour, salt and butter to a food processor and blend until it looks sandy. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Roll the dough out and cut out the heart shapes and place them on the prepped cookie sheet.
Dollop the cooled cherry filling on the pie dough and brush with egg wash around the heart. Place the top of the dough on and seal the edges with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes, once the pies are golden brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.
In a small bowl, add all the icing ingredients and whisk together. Dip the pies into the icing and add the heart sprinkles. Enjoy right away, or keep on the counter for a few days, if they last that long. My kids were happy to devour them right away!
I sure hope you give these Heart Cherry Hand Pies a try this Valentine's Day! If you want to stay in the loop and never miss another blog post, subscribe to my blog here.
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