Flaky Strawberry Hand Pies with Roasted Strawberry Filling

Strawberry Hand Pies on a dessert plate with fresh strawberries and another plate of hand pies in the background.

4.97 from 27 votes

Flaky Strawberry Hand Pies with Roasted Strawberry Filling

These strawberry hand pies are a delicious way to celebrate strawberry season. These irresistible handheld treats are bursting with sweet, juicy vanilla roasted strawberries tucked into a buttery, flaky crust.

Prep Time1

Cook Time1

Chilling Time1 20

Total Time3 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: hand pies

Calories: 157kcal

Author: Cheryl Norris

Ingredients

Flaky Pie Dough

3-1/4 cups (400 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (18 grams) (18 grams) kosher salt
2 teaspoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (454 grams) unsalted butter, cold 82% butter fat recommended
1/2 cup water ice cold

Roasted Strawberries

8 cups (1075 grams) fresh strawberries sliced into round
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean optional
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Hand Pies

1 large egg
1 teaspoon milk (or cream)
turbinado (raw cane) sugar

Instructions

Make the Pie Dough

Add the flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to smush the butter into flat pieces. Continue smashing the butter until all of it is flattened and pieces are about the size of quarters. The flour should look like coarse cornmeal.
Add about 4 tablespoons of water initially and quickly fold it in with a wooden spoon to distribute the water. The dough should appear shaggy. If you need to add more water, add it one (1) tablespoon at a time until it appears shaggy (you may not need all of the water). Keep the dough in the bowl and use your fingers or the palms of your hand to smear the dough up the sides of the bowl.
Once you've done this all the way around the bowl. fold the dough over itself to pick up any dry bits from the bottom of the bowl. Pour the dough onto a floured work surface (I use a wooden board). Press the dough into a rectangle, lightly flour the top and use a rolling pin and roll out to a rectangle, approximately, 10 x 8-inches. Use a bench scraper to fold the dough into a letter fold. Repeat the rectangle and the letter fold two more times.
Divide the dough into two pieces and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 45 minutes. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 month.

Make the Strawberry Filling

Preheat the oven to 425°F for 15 minutes. Time will vary depending on your oven brand.
Place the sugar in a small bowl. Lay the vanilla bean flat. Look for the rougher, matte side – this is where the bean naturally splits open and where you want to cut. Hold the tip of the bean down with your finger. Using the sharp tip of a paring knife, carefully cut lengthwise down the center of the bean, following the matte side. Don't cut all the way through! Leave the end intact so the bean unfolds like a book.
Use the blunt back of the paring knife to scrape the fragrant vanilla bean seeds from the bean gently. Place the vanilla bean seeds into the small bowl with the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the vanilla seeds into the sugar until they are distributed throughout the sugar.
If you don't use all the sugar, use the remaining sugar for another recipe.
Combine the chopped strawberries, lemon juice and lemon zest, 1/2 cup of the vanilla sugar and salt in a large bowl. With a large spoon gently mix all the ingredients together. Spread the mixture on a half-sheet pan and place in the oven.
After the first 15 minutes, taste the mixture (careful it's hot) and add more sugar 1/4 cup at a time stirring after each addition. Continue to roas the strawberries, stirring them every 10 minutes until the strawberry syrup starts to thicken and bubble at the edge of the pans.
When done, remove them from the oven and use a large heatproof spatula to scrape them into a large bowl. Allow the berries to cool until room temperature. Once cooled the berries can be used immediately or refrigerated up to two weeks.

Assemble the Hand Pies

Remove 1/2 of the dough from the refrigerator. If the dough has been in the refrigerator over night let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes to make it easier to roll.
Whisk the egg and milk together. This egg wash is used to seal the pies and brush the top of the assembled pies.
Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Divide the dough into sections that weigh about 55 grams each. Roll out each pie a little larger than a 4-inch cookie cutter, then use the cutter to cut out a circle.
Gather up the scraps into a ball, press it into a circle, wrap it in plastic, and put it in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes and reroll for additional pies.
Place about 1 tablespoon of strawberry filling in the center of each circle. Brush half of the dough circle with the egg wash using a pastry brush, fold the top half of the dough over the filling, and lightly press it into the bottom piece. Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges.
Lightly flour a sheet tray or cutting board and place the pies on the sheet tray and chill for at least 30 minutes. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining dough. I use a 1/4 sheet tray to chill the hand pies in the refrigerator because that is what will fit into my refrigerator, but I bake the pies on a 1/2 sheet tray. See the information below for sheet tray dimensions.

Bake the Hand Pies

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Remove the pies from the refrigerator and place them on a parchment-lined baking tray. Brush each pie with the egg wash and then cut three slits into each pie. Heavily sprinkle each pie with raw sugar.
Bake the pies for approximately 20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. The pies will rise slightly. Remove the pies from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool. The pies can be eaten warm or completely cooled to eat later.

Store the Hand Pies

After the pies are baked, store them at room temperature for up to two days and in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can rewarm them in the oven at 300°F until they are warm (not hot) to the touch.

Notes

This recipe was adapted from Bake from Scratch magazine.

How to Freeze the Unbaked Pies: The unbaked hand pies can be frozen for up to 2 months. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for 24 hours. Put them in a freezer bag. When ready to bake preheat the oven. Remove the pies from the freezer, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake until they’re golden brown.

What to do with the leftover vanilla bean. Save the leftover vanilla bean and place it your sugar container and toss them with the sugar. Over time the vanilla bean pods will add a slight vanilla flavor to the sugar.

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