My children and I were visiting the local farmer’s market this past week and spied juicy raspberries wrapped in quaint aquamarine looking for tiny, grubby hands to happily eat them. We ate most of them on the way home, but saved a few to make these dainty hand pies for a picnic the next day.
The dough I created for these pies is based on a general ratio of ingredients that, when followed crudely, makes a sensational pie crust. Ratios are great to use when baking; they are usually easy to remember and allow for maximum creativity. This pie dough is as easy as 3-2-1. In fact, at the Culinary Institute of America, it is called the “3-2-1 pie dough” created by Chef George Higgins. The breakdown goes as follows: 3 parts flour; 2 parts fat; 1 part liquid.
In my recipe I combined a few flours, added an egg as a binder to make the dough a little more pliable, sugar for sweetness and vanilla for flavor. Out of the oven, my children gobbled these up almost as fast as the market fresh raspberries. Packaged in little bags, they were a hit at our picnic, too! When fresh berries are found at your market, I hope you think to make these easy, sweet pies!
Buttery Shortbread Pie Dough : using 3-2-1 Pie dough ratio
Makes 12 – 5”hand pies
Time to Mix: 10 minutes Rest:30 minutes Roll & Shape: 20 minutes Bake: 30 minutes Cool:10 minutes Eat: 1 minute
Total time: about 1 ½ hours – 2 hours
Ingredients
9 oz flour total : the breakdown below
-4 oz whole wheat pastry flour
-3 oz almond flour
-2 oz coconut flour
6 oz butter, very cold and cubed (1 ½ sticks)
~3 oz liquid total: the breakdown below
-1 egg, beaten
-2 teaspoons vanilla
-3 Tablespoons ice cold water
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 Tablespoons sugar
Raspberry filling
2 pints raspberries
Zest of 1 lemon
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
Egg wash
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons milk, richer the better for a more golden crust
3 Tablespoons Turbinado sugar (for sprinkling on top)
Directions
Grab a scale and weigh out the flour quantities. Add salt and sugar to the flour, and then pour into a food processor fitted with a blade. Add the cold (near frozen) butter cubes to the food processor. Give it a few pulses to gently incorporate the butter.
In a separate small bowl combine the egg , vanilla and 3 Tablespoons of ice water. Add to the food processor and pulse until the dough begins to come together. If the dough seems dry, add a little more water a teaspoon at a time. Pulse the dough a few more times until it looks like a crumbly texture with varied chunks of butter throughout and when pinched, stays together.
On parchment paper, shape into a circle or square whichever you prefer for the final roll out shape. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes wrapped in plastic wrap.
Meanwhile prepare the oven. Preheat to 325°F. Line your jellyroll pans with parchment paper, get out your cookie cutter shapes, and make your egg wash.
Take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to warm up slightly before rolling out, about 5 minutes. Make the Raspberry filling by stirring together the raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon zest.
Between two parchment papers or between two plastic zip top bags (the edges cut open) and sprinkled with flour, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Use a large circle cutter for the shape of the pastry and a smaller cutter for a vent hole or cut out a square shape pastry and vent with small slices.
When you have your shape, fill with raspberry filling; egg wash the inner edges and press the edges together. Before you place them in the oven, give the outer dough a sweep of egg wash and a sprinkle of Turbinado sugar for a beautiful color and crunch.
Bake in the oven on the lower third rack for 20 minutes at 325°F; increase the temperature to 375°F and move the pies to the upper third rack for a golden finish, about 5-10 minutes more.
When the hand pies have finished baking, allow them to cool on the pans for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
Serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whip cream.
Chef’s notes:
The flour in this ratio can be any flour. All purpose is great flour to start with. The softer the flour or less protein/gluten it contains, a more tender crust is created.
The fat can be butter, shortening, lard or a mixture thereof.
The liquid is usually water, but feel free to use juice, too.
The flour, butter and water should be very cold to keep the protein/gluten from activating. I place the flour and butter in the freezer before I mix them and add ice to the water to keep it cold.
I have found that a variation of butter sizes in a dough creates the most flaky dough. Try not to over mix your dough to where all the butter is in “Pea sizes” as they say. Some should be pea size while others are edamame size (if we are still going with the green vegetable metaphors…) even pistachio size… hey,it’s still green.
Finally, try not to handle your dough too much while shaping it before it rests in the fridge. You don’t want to activate the gluten/protein in the flour, it will make for a tough, chewy dough. Pull it together, wrap it up and say, “see ya in thirty!” However, having said that, this dough I made is pretty forgiving. Just be gentle, give it love and it will love you back.
Remove the sugar and vanilla for a more savory crust. Also add Parmesan or herbs to the crust to up the savory flavors; oh, the possibilities . . . !
For 2, – 9” pies; start with 12 oz. of flour; 8 oz. of fat; 4 oz. of liquid – go from there and have fun!
Raspberry Lemon Hand Pies
Ingredients
Buttery Shortbread Pie Dough : using 3-2-1 Pie dough ratio
Makes 12 - 5”hand pies
Time to Mix: 10 minutes Rest:30 minutes Roll & Shape: 20 minutes Bake: 30 minutes Cool:10 minutes Eat: 1 minute
Total time: about 1 ½ hours – 2 hours
Ingredients
9 oz flour total : the breakdown below
-4 oz whole wheat pastry flour
-3 oz almond flour
-2 oz coconut flour
6 oz butter, very cold and cubed (1 ½ sticks)
~3 oz liquid total: the breakdown below
-1 egg, beaten
-2 teaspoons vanilla
-3 Tablespoons ice cold water
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugarRaspberry filling
2 pints raspberries
Zest of 1 lemon
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
Egg wash
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons milk, richer the better for a more golden crust
3 Tablespoons Turbinado sugar (for sprinkling on top)
Instructions
Grab a scale and weigh out the flour quantities. Add salt and sugar to the flour, and then pour into a food processor fitted with a blade. Add the cold (near frozen) butter cubes to the food processor. Give it a few pulses to gently incorporate the butter.
In a separate small bowl combine the egg , vanilla and 3 Tablespoons of ice water. Add to the food processor and pulse until the dough begins to come together. If the dough seems dry, add a little more water a teaspoon at a time. Pulse the dough a few more times until it looks like a crumbly texture with varied chunks of butter throughout and when pinched, stays together.
On parchment paper, shape into a circle or square which ever you prefer for the final roll out shape. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes wrapped in plastic wrap.
Meanwhile prepare the oven. Preheat to 325°F. Line your jellyroll pans with parchment paper, get out your cookie cutter shapes, and make your egg wash.
Take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to warm up slightly before rolling out, about 5 minutes. Make the Raspberry filling by stirring together the raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon zest.
Between two parchment papers or between two plastic zip top bags (the edges cut open) and sprinkled with flour, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Use a large circle cutter for the shape of the pastry and a smaller cutter for a vent hole or cut out a square shape pastry and vent with small slices.
When you have your shape, fill with raspberry filling; egg wash the inner edges and press the edges together. Before you place them in the oven, give the outer dough a sweep of egg wash and a sprinkle of Turbinado sugar for a beautiful color and crunch.
Bake in the oven on the lower third rack for 20 minutesat 325°F; increase the temperature to 375°F and move the pies to the upper third rack for a golden finish, about 5-10 minutes more.
When the pies have finished baking, allow them to cool on the pans for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
Serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whip cream.
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