Dessert recipes for Thanksgiving are a little bit scarce in terms of variety.  The huge thing is pies.  I wanted to make a pie but do something a little different than that.  But I wanted to use classic pie flavors because those in my opinion can’t be improved upon.  So I used pumpkin pie filling, apple pie filling and blueberry pie filling as well as my homemade pie crust recipe to make hand pies.

Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes : Blueberry Hand Pies

    This variety of hand pies was definitely the easiest for me.  All you have to do for the filling is mix all the ingredients together.  It will look clumpy and a bit strange but don’t worry.  That’s just the corn starch that is used as a thickener.  That way you won’t get a runny mess in the hand pie.  

     To fill them,I just took about 4 or 5 blueberries and put them in the middle of the circle.  Then I just folded the top of the circle down and pinched the ends together around the filling.  Finally, I just crimped with a fork.  To crimp first dip the fork in flour to prevent sticking and then just press the prongs of the fork into the end of the pastry horizontally.  Go across the pastry until the edge is totally crimped.

Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes : Apple Hand Pies

    The apple filling was a more in depth.  The first step was to cut and peel the apples and keep in mind that these apple pieces have to fit in a small hand pie so you want to keep them small.  I went with about maybe half inch pieces.

    After I prepared my apples, I put those pieces in a pot with the sugars and salt.  I then let that sit to macerate or break down and release the moisture of the apple.  I then added all the other ingredients and mixed it around to coat the apples.  I then strained the apples into a separate bowl.  

  Now we get into 2 schools of thought when making apple pie.  Some people cook the apples until all of that liquid boils off and then bakes them again in the pie.  I personally don’t like that especially in this application because the apples are so small.  I don’t like this because cooking the apples twice makes them mushy.  I don’t want apple sauce hand pies.  But hey don’t take my word for it.  Try it for yourself.

So anyway last step is I just brought the liquid to a boil. and reduced that liquid that was left by half.  Then just combined the 2 again and let that sit.

Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes : Pumpkin Hand Pies

     Then there was the pumpkin flavor.  I don’t have many pictures of this one.  It was pretty straight forward.  The only thing was that it’s not a solid fruit mixture, so it’s harder to wrap in the dough.  The best advice I can give is:  

1. Do not overfill
2. Pick the hand pie up when filling
3. Create a well in the center

Can you tell which one I had a little trouble with?

       I hope you all enjoy this recipe and thank you all for reading.  If you recreate this, please tag me on social media so I can see.  If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider subscribing.  This way, you can get emails every time I post.  If you have a favorite pie that you wam me to make, let me know in the comments. Have an amazing week and I will see you all in the next one. 

Fruit Hand Pies

Yield: 12 Hand Pies

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

A flaky, buttery pie crust pocket with 1 of 3 delicious fruit flavors, pumpkin, apple and blueberry.

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Ingredients

Blueberry Pie Filling

• 1 of Fresh Blueberries
• Zest and Juice is 1/2 of a Large Lemon
• 2 TBSP of Granulated Sugar
• 2 TBSP of Cornstarch

Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 1/2 of a Cup of Pumpkin Pie
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp of Brown Sugar
• 1 TBSP plus 1 tsp of honey
• 2 TBSP of Heavy Cream
• 1 TSP of Salt
• 1 TSP of Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Cup of Sifted All Purpose Flour
• 2 TSP of Cinnamon
• 1 TSP of Ground Clove

Apple Pie Filling

• 2 Medium Granny Smith Apples
• 2 Tbsp of Light Brown Sugar
• 2 TBSP of Granulated Sugar
• 2 TSP of Cinnamon
• 1/8 TSP of Nutmeg
• 1 TSP of Salt
• The Juice of 1/2 of a Large Lemon

• 1 Recipe For Pie Dough

Instructions

Apple Pie Filling

1. Peel and slice your apples into about 1/2 inch cubes.
2. Place the apples, both kinds of sugar and salt in a pot and mix to incorperate. Leave to maserate ( the process of the sugar and salt drawing out some of the moisture and breaking down the apples) for about 10 minutes.
3. After 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingrediants and mix.
4. Strain out the apples into a seporate bowl and bring the liquid mixture to a simmer over about medium/low heat. Reduce by half.
5. Turn off the heat and add back in the apples
6. Stir to coat the apples in the sauce.
7. Set aside.

Blueberry Pie Filling

1. Mix together the blueberries, lemon zest and juice, sugar and corn starch.
2. Set aside.

Pumpkin Pie

1. Whisk to combine the brown sugar, honey, salt, eggs, vanilla extract and heavy cream in a medium bowl.
2. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine.
3. Whisk in the sifted flour and nutmeg.
4. Set Aside.

Putting Together The Hand Pies

1. Preheat the oven to 400•.
2. Take your prepared pie dough out of the fridge and transfer to a lightly floured surface.
3. Roll out to 1/8 of an inch thick.
4. Cut 4 inch circles out of the dough. reroll out excess to get more.
5. Place them on a parchment paper lined sheet tray.
6. Place a small mound of filling in the middle of each circle. DO NOT OVERFILL!
7. Carefilly fold over the top half of the circle over the filling to create a half moon shape.
8. Pinch the ends to secure.
9. Crimp the edges of the hand pies with a lightly floured fork to further secure.
10. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of your hand pies with egg wash. (egg wash - 1 egg lightly beaten). Create slits in the pies with a pairing knife to allow the steam to escape.
11. Put the hand pies in your preheated oven for 20 minutes. Or until golden brown.
12. Enjoy immediatly.

Notes

I included the ingrediants for the filling to make all of the pies one flavor. But if you wanted to make the pies assorted flavors you would cut the ingrediants down by 1/3.

  If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, message me on instagram, facebook or leave me an email.  

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