Blackberry Hand Pies

Happy Pi day! Happy day of irrational numbers and if you are like me, day of pies. And since pizza is a pie, too, that counts. Pi is the measure of a circle's circumference to it's diameter. As in, it takes a little more than 3 total of the measurement across a circle to make the length of the outside of it. It's a number with no end, and no repeating patterns, and has been studied for thousands of years. The beautiful thing about math is that is crosses generations, civilizations, languages, and is always consistent.

As a kid, I loved math. It was my favorite subject, because it made sense. There was a safety in knowing that there was a concrete answer at the end. Baking is a little different.

Hand pies aren't a new thing. Not even for me. Some time ago, I made Apple Hand Pies. Loved 'em. Compact, no slicing required, and as a result, the filling doesn't all shift around, leaving that one hollow piece of just crust (unless you're into that sort of thing).

This time I had an ample supply of blackberries, so that was my fruit of choice. I got a few odd looks when I mentioned I was using blackberries. I feel like blackberries are often mixed with another fruit like raspberries to balance them out due to their lack of overwhelming sweetness, but when you’re mixing them with sugar and honey, they get to be a superstar on their own. You can go your own way, though - this is a very basic concept and fruit pie filling is just about fruit and a thickener of some sort (starch, flour, etc) to keep it from being too fluid after baking completes.

Making them is a breeze. I used a pre-made store bought crust in the interest of time (what can I say, I was being lazy). I rolled it out to be slightly thinner, about 1/2 inch.

I used some biscuit cutters to cut the dough into circles. In a bowl, I mashed up my blackberries, then added sugar and honey, though one or the other is fine - just double the quantity. For my starch, I mixed some flour with water, and stirred that into the berries. Finally, I added a little bit of cinnamon, because I love what cinnamon adds to dessert.

Starting the pies was a matter of brushing a little egg wash around the edge of a circle and putting some filling in the center. My filling was a little on the runny side; to combat this, I could have added more flour or another starch. I decided to let it thicken in the oven.

I then added a top circle, brushed it with egg wash, and set it on the pan. I baked them for about 25 minutes, until they were a pretty golden brown. Note that I did have some of the filling leak out; I could have thickened it up a little more to prevent that, so keep that in your back pocket if you make these.

They smelled amazing and looked pretty dang cute. 

And there we have it. Pi day: accomplished. Blackberries made for a flavorful filling and I just love using fresh fruit in dessert. These would also be great with frozen berries, if you need a simple and easy dessert.

Blackberry Hand Pies Recipe

Ingredients:

3 (6 ounce) containers blackberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup flour + extra to dust rolling area

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 boxes of pie crust (2 rolls per box)

1 egg, beaten

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Add blackberries to a medium bowl and mash using a spoon. Add sugar, honey, and coconut oil. Mix flour with water and stir in to mixture to thicken. Roll out pie crust and use a rolling pin to spread slightly (roughly 1/2-1 inch on all sides). Use a biscuit cutter to cut circles. In the center of each pie dough circle, add filling, leaving about 1 inch on all sides to seal pie. Add a second circle on top of filling and press on all sides to seal. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Bake for 25 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet.