I love hand pies. I mean, pies are good in their own right, but there’s something about hand pies that are just so great. Maybe it’s because it somehow seems more acceptable for me to eat them at breakfast, or maybe it’s that the crust-to-filling ratio is a little higher on hand pies–and it’s all about the crust, right–or maybe it’s because you can eat it while you drive.
This particular recipe uses Asian pears; they’re sort of like a cross between an apple and a pear. The texture is crisp and snappy like an apple, but slightly mealy like pears, and the taste follows suite, borrowing flavors of golden apples and floral pears. They’re a great fruit in general–I’ve made slaws with these and jicama, with Asian-flavored dressings–and they add a little more interest than what a regular apple or pear might.
Unlike other, more familiar pears, these are meant to be fairly crunchy rather than yielding and soft. Some other pears will seem to almost melt in your mouth once you bite into them, turning into a pulpy puree, while these stay crunchy as you continue to chew on them, but still giving you a hint at that mealy, pulipiness that makes pears so wonderful. For this reason, you do have to dice the fruit fairly small so that it softens up enough when the pies are baked. That said, I like to keep some of the pieces on the larger side so you have a contrasting crunch here and there.
The crust is my go-to recipe–the same used in the Beef Bourguignon Potpie recipe, with some minor modifications, of course. You could certainly use store-bought crust for this, and there’s no real shame in it–some of them are pretty good–but there’s still nothing quite like a homemade crust. For this, I put a little ground cinnamon right in the dough to compliment the aromatic cardamom of the filling. Much like other varieties of the pryus family, Asian pears respond well to strong, aromatic flavors: bitter-sweet oils of orange zest, the warming earthiness of ground ginger, and the fragrant and floral notes of ground cardamom.
An egg wash makes them shine, baking to a high-gloss gold, and a hefty sprinkling of turbinado sugar provides not only the crispest of crunches, but also a smokey sweetness that is just out of this world. Serving it with some really good, egg, heavily speckled vanilla ice cream ties it all together.
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 pies | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 30 - 35 minutes | 2 hours |
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These little pies have a warming, aromatic spice from ground ginger and cardamom, and the snappy sweetness of Asian pears for a twist on a classic comfort food.
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- 2-1/2 cups flour plus more for dusting your work surface
- 2 t-spoons sugar
- 1/2 t-spoon kosher salt
- 12 tablespoons butter cut into 1/2" cubes (3/4 cup)
- 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening cut into 1/2" cubes (1/4 cup)
- 1/4 t-spoon ground cinnamon
- 8 - 10 tablespoons cold water
- 1-1/2 t-spoons vinegar white or applie cider
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
- 1 t-spoon water (for egg wash)
- turbinado sugar for topping the pies
- 2 pounds Asian pears peeled, cored, and quartered (3 - 4 Asian pears)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2-1/2 tablespoons flour
- heaping 3/4 t-spoon ground ginger
- heaping 1/2 t-spoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 t-spoon orange zest
- 2 t-spoon orange juice freshly squeezed
- 1 t-spoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- Small pinch kosher salt
- Cube the butter and shortening, move the little fat cubes to a plate and stash in the freezer for at least 1 hour to chill.
- Start by making the crust: Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to incorporate and aerate the flour a bit. Drop in the butter and shortening, and pulse about 10 times, until the mix resembles wet sand and most of the butter is cut down to the size of peas (though don’t worry if some pieces are larger). Mix the water and vinegar in a small liquid measuring cup and, with the processor running now, pour in the water. You want it to be just moist enough to hold together. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, form it into a ball, roll into a disc, and cover tightly with plastic wrap before stashing in the fridge for at least 1 hour, but up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 375°
- Once the crust has had its time to chill, start on the pie filling. Dice the prepared pears. I like to do a mix of small and large dice, by which I mean that I dice roughly half the fruit into 1/2" cubes, and the rest a scant 1/4"; this way, when baked, some pieces get completely soft while others retain a little crunch.
- Tumble the fruit into a bowl and add in the remaining ingredients and toss everything together until combined.
- Divide the dough in half and dust your work surface with a little flour. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle. Roll this out to about 10" x 12"--about 1/3" thick. Cut the dough into 4 equal rectangles. Do the same for the other half of the the dough.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and transfer 4 pieces of the prepared dough to each baking sheet. Fill the rectangles with the pear filling (about 3 tablespoons per pie) and fold each one over in half. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal.
- Beat the egg and water in a bowl until totally combined. Brush the pies with the egg wash, cut 3 venting slits in the top, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until golden brown and piping hot. Remove to a wire cooling wrack and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve warm or room temperature.
- Odds are you'll have a little of the pear mixture left over--either heat it in a small sauce pan and let it simmer for a few minutes to cook out the raw flour taste, using this as a topping for oatmeal or something, or fill a small ramekin with it, top it with any remaining scraps of crust you have and bake off for a solitary late night treat later.
- The dough can be made up to 3 days in advance. The filling should be made at the last minute, or close to, to avoid the pears letting out too much liquid. You can bake the pies a little in advance but don't put them in an air-tight container or the crust will get soggy.