Perfect little pies for teatime, or packing in lunch boxes!
Makes: 16 hand pies
INGREDIENTS
- 10 oz fresh pitted cherries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla extract if you prefer)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 lb frozen puff pastry, 2 sheets
- 1 egg, beaten
- Confectioner’s sugar for dusting.
DIRECTIONS
- Combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch, almond extract, and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes, crushing the cherries with a spoon and stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- Preheat oven to 425˚F.
- Roll out the puff pastry. Using a large heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts out of each sheet of pastry – about 8 per sheet of pastry. Using a very small heart cookie cutter, cut a heart in the center of eight of the heart-shaped pastry cutouts.
- Fill eight cutouts with a spoonful of cherry filling. Do not overfill! Lay the pastry with the small cutout over the filled half and pinch closed with your fingers. Then use a fork to crimp along the seams for a tight seal.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown and puffy.
- Remove from oven and dust with confectioner’s sugar, if desired. Cool slightly before serving.
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