Sun-Dried-Strawberry Hand Pies

7 Ratings
  • 5 0
  • 4 2
  • 3 3
  • 2 2
  • 1 0

Delicious and easy to make, these hand pies are great to take on picnics.

Martha Stewart Living, June 1998

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Recipe Summary

Servings:
20
Yield:
Makes 20
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Ingredients

Directions

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest; set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.

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  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and 1 cup sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg, and beat until just combined. Add cream cheese, buttermilk, and vanilla extract; beat until well combined. Add the reserved flour mixture, and beat until smooth. Form the dough into a ball, and cover with plastic wrap; flatten into a disk, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

  • Remove dough from refrigerator. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour; roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Using a 4 1/2-inch-round cookie cutter, cut out 20 rounds, and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

  • Combine sun-dried strawberries and 1 1/2 cups water in a medium saucepan. Scrape in the vanilla seeds, and reserve pod for another use. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until most of the water has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice, lemon zest, and preserves. Set aside to cool.

  • Heat oven to 375 degrees; have ready a small bowl of ice water. Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand until pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon 1 tablespoon of filling onto the center of a round, and brush ice water around the edges. Fold round in half; using a fork, press down on edges to seal. Repeat with the remaining rounds. Chill 30 minutes.

  • Remove pies from refrigerator, and brush tops with egg white. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup sugar over tops. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve.

Cook's Notes

To omit step four, make a filling from fresh strawberries and chunky strawberry jam. Use one small strawberry, diced, with one tablespoon preserves per pie.

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Reviews (36)

7 Ratings
  • 5 0
  • 4 2
  • 3 3
  • 2 2
  • 1 0
Martha Stewart Member
07/16/2008
My kids and I made these, they are really good. Dried strawberries are available at Whole Foods. You could also try Trader Joe's, but I didn't get ours there. Lots of steps to this recipe, you chill the dough several times. You will need to make lots of room in your refrigerator. This crust is delicious, we are going to try it again with apples, apple butter, and orange peel rather than lemon. I also have peaches and peach preserves, could be yummy!
Martha Stewart Member
07/11/2008
Just finished this recipe. It makes 14 LOL!!! Probably meant to make 20, but the crust would be too thin. There is certainly enough filling for 20 at their measurement, but a little more filling and a little beefier crust made 14 that I am proud of. As to the strawberries... you need to dehydrate your own or pay somebody megabucks to do it for you.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
I would like to make sun dried strawberries and don't know where to begin. Any ideas are welcome. tbeeth1231@yahoo.com
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Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
tourtes - I think that might be a possibility but it would probably be hard to achieve the same texture that dried would result in. I imagine that 2 cups of dried strawberries has way more than 1-1/2 cups water in them to begin with, and the other thing is you are infusing the dried with vanilla as you are rehydrating them. I am sure it is a lovely result.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
tourtes - I think that might be a possibility but it would probably be hard to achieve the same texture that dried would result in. I imagine that 2 cups of dried strawberries has way more than 1-1/2 cups water in them to begin with, and the other thing is you are infusing the dried with vanilla as you are rehydrating them. I am sure it is a lovely result.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
When I make little pies like these, I often use different fruit for different tastes (apple, strawberry, etc.), so I mark then with a little piece of dough on top of the pie in the shape of the letter of the fruit (a, s, etc.). That way no one bites into a flavor they don't like.
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Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
When I make little pies like these, I often use different fruit for different tastes (apple, strawberry, etc.), so I mark then with a little piece of dough on top of the pie in the shape of the letter of the fruit (a, s, etc.). That way no one bites into a flavor they don't like.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
I have made many fried apple pies it seems as if this is the same thing with the exception of the spices and that you bake them instead of frying them. As far as the number it makes, I just use up my filling with piecrust and if I have left over piecrust I make cinnamon rolls.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Can one use frozen strawberries? Being from Central West Texas, we used what was on hand in those days...My Granny Austin and I madewhat was called "fried pies". It was easier to fry than using a pit to bake. We used our fingers to press/pinch the pies together.It was fun and the kids could help. The family and farmhands didn't complain. After all being in hot grease , germs? Sometime we would use cinnamon with sugar on apple pies, if available. They were such a treat and soooo good. I agree with si
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Pinecroft (sorry 3 parts) - Allow to dry on racks during daylight until it is leathery and pliable. Bring racks indoors to protect the fruit from condensation caused by the cold night air. The process will take several days. Dry, hot, breezy days are best. If greater than 60% humidity n n n n n n this will not work. Good luck!
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Pinecroft - part 2 Sun Dried. You will need strawberries, 2 concrete (or aluminum) blocks and 2 racks or screens. In the outdoors, place blocks far enough apart to support rack. Place on rack on top of the blocks. Wash and dry strawberries. Slice berries. Spread berries evenly across rack. Cover with other rack.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
I have a childhod memory of having these but they were pecan filled - does anyone have a recipe for a pecan filling and I could use this same crust ?? Thanks
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Pinecroft - answer in 2 parts. 1st, the easy alternative Oven Dried Strawberries Blanch and then cool the whole strawberry. Thinly slice the strawberries. Arrange the slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Set oven temperature to 140 degrees F and place fruit in oven until completely dry and nearly crisp (between 4 and 12 hours). If your oven has uneven heat, turn the cookie sheets every 2 hours. Allow to cool. Can store in air tight containers for about 2 months.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
When I was a wee child I have a very strong memory of my long deceased Aunt Sally, who was a farmer's wife in Tennessee making hand pies from dried peaches and apples, except that they were fried. I've missed those pies. I'm going to have to try to make these to see if they come close. I may substitute peaches however.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Knightcraft, your suggestion sounds good. I might try it since I have several jars of homemade jam sitting on the shelf, and the pre-made crust would probably be better than mine. :)
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
sheperdess, raspberries would probably be a good alternative...I don't know if equal amounts would work, or if more raspberries would be needed since they are a bit more delicate. happy baking! :)
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
How do you sun-dry strawberries?
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
There's also a recipe on the site for hand pies using fresh strawberries -- tried it this weekend and it's great...
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Dried strawberries are not readily available and our season has passed or I could have dried them in my dehydrator. Does anyone have an alternative fruit concoction to use for the filling? Blueberries, rasperries are available now? Thanks.
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
If you really want to cheat just use chunky strawberry preserves and purchased pie crust from the refridgerated isle at your local grocery store. Roll the crust out and follow the directions from there. But don't expect Martha to come to your cookie tasting!
Martha Stewart Member
07/09/2008
Would it be possible to use FRESH strawberries?
Martha Stewart Member
06/26/2008
Can you purchase sun dried strawberries in the UK? If so, can anyone tell me where?
Martha Stewart Member
06/12/2008
What Frozen crust could you use instead of making home made? Puff pastry or what? TO choclatelover if your counting cal's you should not be looking at this one.!
Martha Stewart Member
06/02/2008
Has anyone tried these yet? they sound wonderful....even if you "cheat" on the crust.
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
The possibility exists that someone at MSL made a typo. If you have enough dough and filling for 20, then the 10 at the top of the recipe is a typo. If you run out, then the 20 in the recipe is a typo. Perhaps someone at MSL can answer this?
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
Wouldn't it be great if Martha included nutritional info in her recipes? I'd love to know the calorie count:)
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
Actually I think we.re all right - we can either make 20 small folded pies or 10 larger 2 crust pies - methinks the amount of filling would have to be adjusted - as someone said: they look really good - we should all report back on the results.;-))
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
I think the problem in the directions is that it says at some point to fold round in half when actually according to the picture itis one round on top of the other ;-))
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
I bet you can also use puff pastry for this instead of making a pie dough. Another thing is that the recipe says to fold each round in half, (Spoon 1 tablespoon of filling onto the center of a round, and brush ice water around the edges. Fold round in half; using a fork, press down on edges to seal. Repeat with the remaining rounds. Chill 30 minutes.) So if you cut 20 circles, you have 20 pies. Hope that helps. The recipe does sound really good.
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
But, the circles are folded over to make a half circle. It's more like a pierogi or a Chinese dumpling than like a ravioli which is made from two sheets of dough.
Martha Stewart Member
05/29/2008
I believe whoever wrote the receipe made a mistake...the receipe should make 20 pies! NOT only 10! Each pie is a half circle! You only need 1 round per pie! Will try out receipe and let you know how many pies can be cut out of 1 receipe...but I'm almost sure its 20 judging by the ingredient quantities...
Martha Stewart Member
05/25/2008
Its a pie so it takes a top and a bottom round to make each pie, thus 20 rounds for 10 pies.
Martha Stewart Member
05/23/2008
what is the answer to how many does it make, 10 or 20
Martha Stewart Member
05/16/2008
i agree with 'lunatune'. recipe indicates it "makes 10" but directions say to "cut out 20 rounds". what recipe adjustments need to made?
Martha Stewart Member
05/15/2008
where can I purchase sun-dried strawberries?
Martha Stewart Member
05/15/2008
This makes 10 pies but the directions say to cut out 20. Do you double the filling?
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