Strawberry Hand Pies
Yields: 8 medium heart shaped hand pies
We all have those times when we are craving a childhood classic and what is more tempting than a pop tart? Enter these buttery flaky fresh strawberry filled pastries of your dreams, that dare I say are even better than the original!
Crust
1 ½ cups Anita’s Organic All Purpose Flour
½ cup Anita’s Organic Cake and Pastry Flour
1 tbsp cane sugar
1 tsp salt
¾ cup cold vegan butter (we used Miyoko’s)
⅓ cup cold oat milk, or non dairy milk of your choice
Strawberry filling
2 cups fresh strawberries cut into chunks
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup cane sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water
Strawberry glaze
2 tbsp of the strawberry filling
1 cup icing sugar
Splash of oat milk if needed.
Dried rose petals or decorations of choice
Strawberry Filling
Make the filling first so it has enough time to cool. In a saucepan over medium heat add in strawberry chunks, lemon juice & zest and sugar. As you are stirring be sure to mash the berries with your wooden spoon to break them up.
Make a cornstarch slurry by whisking together the cornstarch and the water until no clumps remain. Bring the berries to a gentle simmer then slowly add in the slurry until incorporated. Once it begins to slightly thicken, remove from heat and let cool. Reserve 2 tbsps for glaze.
dough
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flours, sugar and salt.
Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the bowl with the flour. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until incorporated and a sandy consistency.
Slowly drizzle in the cold milk and stir until a soft dough begins to form. Shape into a disk, wrap in beeswax wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Glaze
In a bowl add in the powdered sugar and reserved strawberries. Stir together until a paste begins to form. Add in a splash of oat milk at a time until your glaze forms. You don’t want it to be too runny that it slides off the hand pie, but not too thick that it doesn’t create an even layer when drizzling.
Assembling the Hands pies
Roll the dough out onto a floured surface till ⅛ inch thick.
Using your desired shape, cut out even portions of your dough, we did 12 to end up with 6 completed hand pies.
Place 6 of the hearts onto a pan lined with parchment paper, these will be the bottoms. It is easiest to assemble right onto the pan so you do not have to move them once they are filled.
Add 1-2 slightly tbsps of the strawberry filling to the cutouts following the shape while leaving space around the edges. If you notice that some of the filling squishes out as you crimp the edges it is ok, wipe off as much as you can so it does not burn.
Gently place the remaining cutouts on top of the prepared bottoms.
Crimp the edges with a fork to hold them together so the filling does not leak out.
Brush each hand pie with oat milk and sprinkle with cane sugar.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until browned around the edges. Depending on your oven you may want to check every so often after 15 minutes so they do not overbake.
Let the hand pies rest on a baking rack until completely cool.
Drizzle the glaze over each hand pie and sprinkle with decorations of choice. Let the glaze harden completely before storing in an airtight container.
