Mixed Berry Hand Pies

Wanna know the secret to the tenderest, flakiest pie crust you ever did taste? Two words: sour cream. Holy grail of pie crusts people. Forget the ice water, the milk, the buttermilk, the egg yolk. etc. Forget them all. This right here is the real deal.


And it's not just the tender, flakiness that's got me all hyped up. It's the zero difficuly I had rolling it out and cutting it into these adorable hand pies. I mean, see for yourself. Usually, I'll have to wait for it a while once it's out of the fridge, roll, then re-roll but I literally rolled this dough out a few minutes after taking it out of the fridge and I had no cracks, no nothing.

By the way, silicone mats are my favorite for rolling out all kinds of dough, even fondant. Best investment ever!


So anyway, because I had no difficulties whatsoever with this dough, the rest of the process of making these went by super quickly. I mixed together some frozen berries with a bit of sugar and instant tapioca(the secret to keeping your filling from seeping out), and scooped a little into the center of each dough circle. Then, I sealed them another dough circle, crimped the edges with a fork, brushed them with some egg wash, baked for 15 minutes and done!



The only negative thing I have to say about these is they're extremely addicting! You'll literally eat a minimum of three in one sitting. And then you'll go do something, start craving them again and come back for three more. Buttery, flaky pastries, man. They will be the death of you and me. 

Mixed Berry Hand Pies

Yield: 18 hand pies  (depending on the size you cut them)

Ingredients:

For the pie crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/4 cup sour cream

For the filling:
One 10oz. bag frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant tapioca
pinch of vanilla powder or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water, for the egg wash

Directions:

Place flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add cubed butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add sour cream and pulse just until mixture starts to come together into a loose ball. Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently to gather it up, then divide into two equal portions.  Shape each portion into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, combine thawed and drained berries, sugar, tapioca, and vanilla. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove one of the disks of dough from the fridge after it has chilled and on a large floured work surface, roll it out into a large square, about 1/8th inch thick.

Using a cookie cutter, cut out as many circles of dough as you can from the dough. Re-roll the scraps and continue to cut out as many circles as you can.

Repeat with the second disk of dough, making sure to cut out an equal amount of circles. You should have an even number of circles in total.

Scoop about a tablespoon or two of filling onto the center of half the dough circles. Place a second circle of dough on top of the filling on each dough circle, and use a fork to seal the edges.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg and water to make the egg wash. Brush the hand pies with egg wash and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, or serve warm.