Spiced Wine Hand Pies

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Hand pies are similar to galettes or tarts in that they must be able to support themselves without the aid of a dish. While galettes and tarts use specialized doughs, hand pies are small enough that you can get away with using a standard pie dough. Take care not to overfill each hand pie otherwise they could break apart easily.

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Spiced Wine & Pear Hand Pies

Yield: 8 hand pies

Tools:

Heavy-bottomed pot
Rolling pin
Paring knife
Citrus zester
Brush
Lined baking sheet

Ingredients:

2 Pecan Pie Crusts (recipe below)

1 cup red wine
1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 cup bourbon
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
4 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
2 ounces honey
4 ounces sugar

1 ounce sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2-4 ripe pears

Egg wash

Instructions:

1. Preheat an oven to 375°F. Roll out the pie crusts to make a 9″ circle and set aside in the fridge.

2. Put the wine, apple cider, bourbon, orange, lemon, cinnamon sticks, cloves, honey and 4 ounces sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Remove the orange, lemon, cinnamon sticks and cloves. Bring the mixture to a slow boil and let the mixture reduce to a third of its original volume, about 20 to 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

4. Remove the syrup from the heat and let cool.

5. In the meantime mix the 1 ounce sugar, salt, orange zest and cinnamon together in a bowl. Set aside

6. Cut each disk into quarters. Brush the outside 1/4″ of each quarter with the egg wash.

7. Lay a few pear slices on half of the dough quarter, leaving the 1/4″ space brushed with egg wash clear. Brush a little of the spiced wine over the pears. Sprinkle on some of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the pear slices.

8. Fold over the half of the dough that does not have any pear slices on it. Carefully press the edges together to seal the hand pies. Using a toothpick crimp the edges to help keep them sealed. Cut a few slots in the top of the hand pie to allow the steam to escape.

9. Repeat with the remaining dough quarters. Just before baking brush the top of each hand pie with the egg wash.

10. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

11. Remove and let cool.

Pie Dough: This is my standard flaky pie dough recipe but with a third of the flour replaced with ground pecans. The ground pecans gives the dough a slightly sweet, nutty flavor and adds a little crunch.

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Pecan Pie Crust

Yield: 2 pie crusts, enough for 8 hand pies

Tools:
Food processor
Parchment paper

Ingredients:
9 ounces bread flour
4 ounces ground pecans
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, cold and roughly chopped
3 ounces lard, cold and roughly chopped
1/4 cup ice water

Instructions:
1. Place the flour, ground pecans and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix thoroughly.
2. Add the cold, chopped butter and lard to the food processor. Pulse a few times until the butter is about the size of small peas or
grape nuts and the mixture resembles cornmeal.
3. Add the water. Pulse until the mixture comes together and a dough is just formed. Be careful not to over mix the dough.
4. Pour the dough out onto parchment paper. Knead together lightly if needed. Form the dough into a disk and wrap completely in parchment paper.
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour to give the dough time to rest and to make it easier to work with and roll out.
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator just before rolling out.

View the original post at Chasing Delicious.

Russell van Kraayenburg is Editor-in-Chief at The Boys Club and blogger at Chasing Delicious.