Tried a new experiment today - Cherry Hand Pies. I love to make a good cherry pie with a basket weave crust, but with Tracy on the road I wanted to make him a treat he could eat with one hand. For this first experiment, I used some ready made pie ingredients I had at home. (Maybe I should call these EASY Cherry Hand Pies since it's not totally from scratch.) I made one version with ready-made pie dough, and another version with puff pastry.

Easy Cherry Hand Pies Recipe

• Cherry pie filling
• Pillsbury Pie Crust or Puff Pastry
• Egg
• Sugar

Preheat over to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Thaw and bring your pie dough or puff pastry dough. 

Use the cookie cutter shape of your choice to cut out the pie dough. I used a scallop shape with the pie dough. For the puff pastry, I just unfolded it and cut it into rectangles.

Spoon a small amount of cherry pie filling on to the dough. Place the matching dough shape on top and crimp edges together. You can use your hand or a fork like I did.

Cut small openings in the top of the crust. Brush with an egg wash (beat one egg with a little bit of water). Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. Watch closely as cooking time can vary for different ovens and pie sizes.

Remove and cool on rack. Serve warm with ice cream or eat as is on the go. 

Takeaways

The Cherry Hand Pies were a hit with Tracy. However, next time I may try tweaking the recipe a bit, including:

• Cherry Cream Cheese Hand Pies! I think I'll smear a bit of cream cheese on the dough before spooning on the cherry pie filling.
• Chill hand pies before putting in the oven. After exploring similar recipes on Pinterest, I think I'll try chilling before baking. The puff pastry did puff up a lot and I'm not sure if it's a dough temp thing. 
• Make sure the dough is pinched together good for better seal. I wonder if brushing with a little water or egg would help this seal better. 
• Try other flavors. I'm dreaming of some blueberry hand pies. 

That's it for me. What do you think? Any suggestions for perfecting Cherry Hand Pies?