Blackberry Hand Pies are the perfect personal treat! Using a simple homemade pie dough plus quick & easy blackberry jam, these little hand pies are going to be your new favorite. Use plant based butter for a vegan friendly recipe.
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I am so excited about this recipe with California Giant Berry Farms. A long time brand sponsor for Fit Mitten Kitchen, and I love baking with berries so much! As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
You guys are going to love these hand pies.
If you haven’t made anything like this before, you must give these a shot. I even share some short cuts (hint, hint: you can use pre-made pie dough) so you can enjoy these little treats even quicker.
Recommended Tools
- biscuit cutter (or something similar)
Pie Dough Ingredients
Don’t be scared to make your own pie dough, it’s really quite simple, especially if you have a food processor on hand. You just need flour, a little sugar, salt, frozen butter and ice cold water with apple cider vinegar. Feel free to use plant based butter to keep this recipe vegan friendly!
To make the pie dough, pulse together frozen cubed butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Then slowly add in ice cold water + apple cider vinegar mixture, until the dough starts to come together. Just make sure the dough isn’t too sticky, it if is, add some more flour until you can easily roll it into a ball.
Once you’ve made your pie dough, divide into two discs and wrap in plastic wrap and place on a tray in the freezer for about 45 minutes. You want the dough very, very cold.
Blackberry Jam
While the dough is chilling, you can make the blackberry jam.
This blackberry jam comes together in about 10 minutes and you don’t need much! It’s just fresh blackberries, maple syrup (which you could omit if you don’t mind a more tart filling), lemon juice and tapioca flour, which helps thicken the jam a bit.
To make the jam start by warming up the blackberries, until they start to turn color and juices release (about 8 minutes). Then gently begin mashing the berries and add maple syrup, lemon juice and sprinkle on the tapioca flour (or corn starch). Mash and stir, then continue cooking the jam for another few minutes, or until you can see the juice coats the back of a metal spoon.
We Love Blackberries!
- They’re a versatile fruit and wonderful with all kinds of dishes. From chicken (check out this recipe!), harissa pork, salads, cobbler and more.
- 1 serving of blackberries has 8 grams of fiber.
- Blackberries are best kept refrigerated and enjoyed within 1-3 days at home. So use them up or freeze them for later!
- When selecting berries at your local grocery store, look for firm berries with a deep, even color and glossy sheen.
How to Make Hand Pies
After you’ve chilled the dough, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and begin rolling the dough flat, about 1/8″ thick. Use a 3.5-4″ round biscuit cutter to cut out your pie rounds. You’ll need 16 rounds total, to get 8 pies.
Lay out all of your rounds and make 3-4 small cuts (as pictured) into 8 of the rounds – these are your tops.
On a large baking sheet evenly space out 8 rounds and place about 1 tablespoon of blackberry jam into the center, making sure to not get too close to the edges.
Place the top rounds on and gently press the edges together to secure. Then go around with a fork to crimp the edges.
After you’ve assembled the hand pies, you want to place the sheet pan in the freezer for at 15-20 minutes to make sure the dough stays cold.
After the pies have chilled, brush on your egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar for the ultimate hand pie experience.
Why So Much Dough Chilling
Because this crust uses all butter, the dough will begin to soften the more you handle it. So it’s best to chill the discs of dough before rolling out, and then once again once the pies are assembled prior to baking.
Then once it’s time to bake, the hand pies will maintain their shapes.
Baking Substitutions
Butter – you can use conventional butter or plant based butter for a vegan pie dough. This will give you the best flavor. Just make sure whichever you use, the sticks of butter are frozen
Berries – you can use a mix of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries if you’d like!
Flour – I used whole wheat pastry flour here for a whole grain pie dough. If you’d like to use whole wheat flour, I’d use half whole wheat, half all-purpose. I have not tested this recipe with a 1:1 gluten free baking flour yet but I imagine it will work.
Pie Dough – If you want to use store-bought pie dough, you can do that too! You’ll just make your blackberry jam first and then roll out the dough and cut into circles.
Pie Shapes – If you don’t have a round cookie cutter, you can cut the dough into rectangles, or if you have a larger heart shaped cookie cutter (about 3.5″ wide) you could try that as well! As long as you follow the steps for dough chilling, the shapes should hold.
Let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a comment and rating below! It helps others learn more about the recipe too! Xx Ashley
Blackberry Hand Pies
Ingredients
Pie Dough
- 2 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour, or whole wheat white flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 12 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter, cubed (plant based is fine, see notes)
- 4-6 tablespoons ice cold water + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Easy Blackberry Jam
- 2 cups blackberries
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons tapioca flour, or cornstarch
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- coarse sprinkling sugar, for tops, optional – I used organic cane sugar
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a food processor pulse together flour, salt and granulated sugar. Add in frozen cubed butter and pulse until chunks of butter are broken down. Mixture will resemble a coarse meal. Add in ice cold water + ACV mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing in between until dough comes together. You should need about 5-6 tablespoons of water. Dough should just come together and not be overly wet. If you think you added too much water, work in some more flour with your hands. If you think it’s too dry and dough doesn’t form a ball, add a tiny bit more water. Split dough into two even round discs; place in fridge for 1 hour.
- Make blackberry jam: in a saucepan over medium heat, add blackberries and cook down until soft and juices (about 8 minutes). Use potato masher to mash berries, then add in maple syrup, lemon juice and tapioca flour. Continue cooking over low-medium heat while stirring continuously, for another 3-4 minutes, until blackberries have thickened and juice coats back of spoon. Transfer to heat-proof bowl and set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and prepare large baking sheet (or 2 medium baking sheets) with parchment paper. On flat, lightly floured surface, roll out dough into circle, about ⅛” thick – use a 3.5” round biscuit cutter to cut out dough into circles; you should get about 16 rounds. Lay out 8 circles of dough on baking sheet and 8 circles of dough on a flat surface, make 4 cuts into 8 of those rounds – these are your tops.
- On the bottom rounds on the baking sheet, add about 1 tablespoon of the blackberry jam. Cover with tops and press edges together with fingers, then go around the outside and press with fork, fixing/re-shaping edges as needed. Place tray in freezer for 20 minutes so the pies are really chilled before baking.
- Take pies out and brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until edges are golden.
- Let hand pies cool for 20 minutes before diving in!
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