Roasted Strawberry Heart Hand Pies

roasted strawberry heart hand pies

 Who doesn't love pie?  Especially when it's made into a little heart and filled with strawberries!  Pie crust can be an overwhelming idea for a lot of people, but this is a very easy and forgiving recipe.  I use it when I make my cream wafer cookies and thought it would be worth trying out for these really cute hand pies.  The smell of roasted strawberries is one of my favorite things ever.  If you haven't tried it then you definitely need to.  Even if you use it for your oatmeal, yogurt, french toast... anything! These Roasted Strawberry Heart Hand Pies would be cute for kids to have instead of pop tarts in the morning as a fun Valentine's Day treat, or as a dessert in their lunch.  These are best the day they are made!  If you want you can use strawberry jam instead of the roasted strawberries and it will add a nice sweetness as well.

The trick to good pie crust is having COLD ingredients.  The butter and cream need to be right out of the fridge AND the less you work the dough the better.  If you feel at any point that your dough is getting too warm you can simply put it back in the fridge.  After I cut the heart shapes out and construct the pies I like to let them set up in the fridge for a few minutes at least to make sure they are cold.  That is what creates that nice flaky crust that we all love and look forward to in a pie.

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Roasted Strawberry Heart Hand Pies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter; cold and cut into cubes

a pinch of salt

1/3 cup cold whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

about 1/2 cup sugar for dipping

1-2 pints of strawberries OR strawberry jam

Instructions

*Preheat your oven to 375 degree

*Remove the stems of the strawberries and cut into quarters

*Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and toss will a little olive oil

*Roast in the oven until fragrant and soft; about 15-20 minutes

*Let cool

*You can use strawberry jam instead

*Measure flour into a food processor with a pinch of salt

*Add the cold cubed butter and process until it resembles sand

(Note: You can also make this dough by using a pastry cutter or two knives… but be sure the butter doesn’t start getting too warm)

*Slowly add the cold whipping cream and vanilla, with the processor running, until it forms a ball

*Wrap the dough in plastic wrap shaping it into a flat disk

*Refrigerate for 1 hour (at least)

*Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick

*Cut into a heart-shape with a cookie cutter

*Set the cut-out dough in the bowl of sugar and coat one side

*Place the sugared side onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

*Place a small amount of the strawberries in the center of the heart; enough to fill the center but not too much so that it will spill out

*Place another heart shape piece of dough in the sugar (only one side) and place the side without the sugar over the other piece of dough with the strawberries in the center

*Use a fork to press along the outside of the cookie to seal the pie

*Prick each pie with a fork about 3-4 times

*Repeat with the rest of the dough; if your dough becomes warm make sure to refrigerate it because you want it to remain cold!

*If your dough as gotten warm then refrigerate it for about 10 minutes

*Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

*Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the pies lightly brown (you don’t really want these to brown too much); the timing will also depend on how big you make your pies

*Allow to cool

*These are best the day that they are made, but will stay good for another day or two; if you want them to last a bit longer I recommend using the jam instead of fresh strawberries

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