"Handpies"

I had never heard of "handpies" until now. I always considered these tasty treats to be just "little" pies. The recipe called for the use of Blackberry jam. I wanted to make them a little more filling so I used canned pie filling. I know, I know...it isn't homemade and it probably would have tasted better from scratch. I used Lemon Pie filling and Sweet Cherry Pie Filling. These little pies came out so good. The crust was delicious and tasted a little bit like a cookie. My favorite was the Lemon. It could be just because I love lemons. In the words of the famous Rachel Ray...They were Yum-o! I think they would freeze well, but don't hold me to it. I bet they would work with any other kind of filling. I just might have to try them again with other fillings.

Blackberry Hand Pies


Courtesy of: Central Market
Makes 2 dozen 8-inch pies

5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups seedless blackberry jam
confectioners' sugar for sprinkling



Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl. Combine the vanilla and milk together in a cup. Cream the butter, shortening and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour mixture and milk mixture alternately, adding about 1 1/2 cups of the flour mixture and about 1/4 cup of the milk mixture each time until all of the ingredients have been used, mixing well after each addition. Divide the dough into 24 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball. Freeze for one hour or until very cold.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment paper or coat with nonstick cooking spray. Roll each ball of dough into a circle 5 inches in diameter on a lightly floured surface. Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of jam over half of each circle, leaving 1/2 inch of uncovered pastry around the edge. Moisten the edges of each circle with water and fold the circle of dough in half to form a half moon. Crimp the edges with a fork and pierce the top of each hand pie several times. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the hand pies are light brown. Place on a cooling rack until room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.