If you have been a reader of my blog for any amount of time, then you know one thing to be true.
I. Love. Pie.
Which is why it is very fitting that my only pie press is shaped like a heart.
I bought this little baby back around Valentine’s Day at Target for $5. For this recipe, you could really use any kind of pie press. They are sold on Amazon in many shapes and sizes for between $5-$10. Do yourself a favor and get one, because these little hand pies are (a) Way easier to make than a big pie, and (b) cuter than big pies, (c) built-in portion control, and (d) they make you feel special.
This recipe tastes JUST like the hostess ones that we all used to eat in our lunches as kids, but much better, and I’m guessing one of them doesn’t have 500 calories in it, either.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
Pie crust, refrigerated or homemade – 1 refrigerated crust will yield pies and some scraps.
Cherry Pie filling
Egg Wash (1 egg + 2 T water, mixed well)
Sparkling Sugar
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1-2 tablespoons half and half
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°
Roll out one of the pie crusts and use the back of the pie press to cut out hearts. Place cherry pie filling in the center of one heart, and top with another heart. Press down on the pie press. Repeat until all of the pie crust is used. Make sure and cut a little slit in the middle for steam to escape.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar.
Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 7 – 10 minutes or until slightly brown. Cover warm pies with glaze. Cool and enjoy.
Rumbly in my Tumbly 
I have a couple of questions:
1. When I make homemade pie crust it is hard to keep the pies from falling into pieces, how do I stop this from happening?
2. Do you ever cut the dough by hand or just use your pie press?
Hi Pat,
I always use a pie press or a cookie cutter to cut the pie crust when making hand pies, because you want the shapes to match up exactly. You could do it by hand, if you are very careful.
As far as your pie crust question, there are a couple of things it could be. First, make sure you are flouring the surface you are working on really well. Second, make sure you don’t overwork the dough- you just want to mix it until just combined and then roll it out- don’t mess with it too much. Another thing you can do is to roll the crust out between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper. Make sure you measure your ingredient EXACTLY. Pie crust needs to be very exact. Here is my favorite go-to pie crust recipe. Been using it since I was a kid and it works every time. http://www.crisco.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=3589 Good luck!