Pastry for Hand Pies

I've stopped baking for a very long time. First, it was because I didn't have someone to clean up after me. Now, it's because my two boys take up almost 100% of my time. Lately, I've been able to bake again because I have the help of teenage nieces. Not only do they help with the prep, but also with the clean up, and watching my boys.

So, with this fall weather and so many apples on hand because my apple tree is having a boom year, I was able to try out this hand pie pastry recipe from food blogger, Brown Eyed Baker (www.browneyedbaker.com). We made apple and peach hand pies by making homemade pie filling (note: if making homemade pie filling, cook down as much of the juices from the fruit before filling the pastry). This pastry recipe is awesome because the crusts came out flaky and delicious. Pie dough is super hard to work with and this dough worked well with a teenager that had never before made a pie in her life. It survived a lot of rolling and man-handling, and still came out flaky and buttery. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

The pastry recipe and ingredients below are from Brown Eyed Baker.  I've rewritten the instructions for the pastry because I used a food processor to make the dough (so so much easier). You can find the original recipe here and also use it to finish your hand pies.

Ingredients for Pastry

1 1/2 C (354 grams) All-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 C (227 grams) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/2 C (113 grams) sour cream

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 C (120 ml) ice water

In a food processor, put in the flour, salt, and butter. Pulse until the mixture looks like sand (about 15-20 seconds). Don't over process.

Add sour cream, lemon juice, and ice water to the flour/butter mixture. Pulse until the mixture starts coming together (about 15-20 seconds). Don't over process. The mixture will likely stick to the center of the food processor.

Dump the mixture into a bowl. Pat the the mixture into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap (or you could put it in a plastic baggie) and refrigerate for one hour.