Berry Hand Pies

When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of Hostess fruit pies. I loved everything about them - the flaky crust, the gooey fruit filling, the sweet glaze; and how they all worked together to make a delicious treat.

This berry hand pie is an homage to the Hostess fruit pie of my youth. It has a flaky crust, gooey fruit filling and a sweet glaze. Eating them brings back lots of great memories. Will they do the same for you? 

What You Will Need:
Small Saucepan
Shallow Dish
Silicone Mat/Clean Counter
Rolling Pin
Circle Cookie Cutter (Approximately 3")
Cookie Sheets lined with Silicone Mats or Parchment Paper
Cooling Rack

Ingredients:
Pastry Dough (Posted on May 18, 2013)
Filling
2 cups Berries (I used blackberries, but strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries would also be great.)
1 Large Apple (Granny smith would be great, but I used what I had - I think it was a red delicious.); peeled, cored and chopped.
2/3 cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1 Tablespoon Tapioca Flour/Starch
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Milk (for sealing crust and brushing the tops)
2 Tablespoons Sugar (for sprinkling the tops)
Glaze
6 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Milk

Directions:
In a small saucepan, cook the filling ingredients over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens.

Pour the mixture into a shallow dish to cool.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Place racks in second to top and second to bottom slots.

On a lightly floured silicone mat or clean counter, roll out the pastry dough with a rolling pin to approximately 1/8"-1/4" thickness. Cut the dough with the circle cookie cutter.

Place a circle of dough on a lined cookie sheet, and place a heaping Tablespoon of filling in the center of the circle.

Take another circle of dough and press it between your thumb and fingers to flatten it slightly, so it is bigger than the bottom circle. 

Wet the edges of the bottom circle with milk.

Place the slightly stretched circle over the filling and line up the edges of the two circles. Press the edges with a fork to seal the edges together.

Cut a small x in the top of the hand pie.

Brush the top of the hand pie with milk.

Sprinkle with Sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes on top rack, then switch to bottom rack and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until golden. If baking two cookie sheets at once, place one sheet on each rack and swap at 15 minutes.

Transfer the hand pies to cooling racks to cool completely.

While hand pies are cooling, mix the glaze ingredients in a small bowl with a spoon.

Drizzle the glaze over the cooled hand pies.

Let the glaze set completely before serving or storing in an airtight container.

Yummy! These hand pies are perfect for a picnic or to stick in your lunch for a special treat. How about surprising your husband and/or kids by sneaking one in their lunch? Now that is a great idea.

"You are confined only by the walls you build yourself."

Don't let your walls confine you. Dream big, tear down your walls, and go after your dreams! 

~Sheryl

Funfetti Cupcakes with Strawberry Banana Buttercream Frosting

One of my favorite fruit flavor combinations is strawberry banana. Don't you love the way the two fruits compliment each other? Obviously, I'm not the only one who does, otherwise we wouldn't have strawberry banana smoothies, blizzards, and all sort of other goodies. 

I also love funfetti cupcakes. They are like a party on your plate. You can always count on a funfetti cupcake to lift your spirits, and they are stupid easy to make. 

Do you want to know the secret? Are you sure you are ready? OK, here we go. Just add sprinkles. That's right. I said, just add sprinkles. Who would have thought it would be that easy?! And yet, it is.

So, I have to ask myself, why don't people make them more often? I mean, seriously, sprinkles come in all different colors. How fun would it be to coordinate your funfetti with your party or event? I mean, I did. Did you notice that my sprinkles are red, white and blue in honor of Labor Day? They sure are.

Shall we get to it, then?

What You Will Need:
KitchenAid Mixer with Paddle & Whisk Attachments
Cupcake Pans
Cupcake Liner Papers
Cooling Racks

Ingredients:
For Cupcakes
1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
2 cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
4 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups Soy Flour
1 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
1 cup Potato Starch
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Xanthum Gum
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Milk, hot
1 bottle or 1/3 cup Sprinkles
For Frosting
2 cups Unsalted Butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
5 teaspoons Strawberry Extract
1 teaspoon Banana Extract
5-6 drops Pink Food Coloring

Directions:
Line cupcake pans with cupcake liner papers and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together soy flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, xanthum gum, and salt. Set aside.

In KitchenAid Mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth - approximately 2 minutes.

Slowly add sugar, and beat until fluffy - approximately 4 minutes.

Add vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.

Add dry ingredients 1/4 at a time, and mix well. 

Slowly add milk, and mix well. (This can be quite messy, so be careful. Just be patient, and go slow. It will come together.)

And sprinkles, and mix.

Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans. (Fill approximately 3/4 full.)

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

Place butter for frosting in KitchenAid Mixer with Whisk Attachment.

Slowly add powdered sugar until combined.

Add extract.

Add food coloring, and mix until well combined and fluffy.

Transfer frosting to a gallon size ziploc bag, and snip one corner.

Frost cupcakes. If you don't go overboard with the frosting, you should be able to frost all 36 cupcakes. I tend to go overboard, so learn from my mistakes. ;)

Refrigerate cupcakes for approximately an hour to set frosting. Now share them with your family, friends, neighbors, guests, or whomever you choose. 

Summer is coming to an end, and it makes me incredibly sad. As you know, it is my FAVORITE season of the year. If you feel the same way, remember this quote in the dead of winter, when you are longing for the long, hot days of summer.

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." ~Albert Camus

Sheryl

Strawberry Pie

If you read my post on Saturday, June 22 on strawberry shortcake, you know that  my kids, my mom and I went strawberry picking last week. We picked a bunch of berries. And what is the best thing to do with fresh berries? Make desserts, of course. This beautiful, sweet, yummolicious pie was one of those desserts. 

This weekend we had friends over for dinner. They were kind enough to bring really amazing filet mignon steaks for the main course, so I figures I had to have a something special for dessert. Since I had the fresh berries, I figured a strawberry pie made with fresh-picked berries would be a nice offering. Served with fresh whipped cream, it was a huge hit. They really enjoyed it.

What you Will Need:
Pie Crust (posted on May 18, 2013), baked
Pie Plate
Baking Sheet
KitchenAid Mixer with Whisk Attachment

Ingredients:
Pie Filling
1 1/2 pounds Strawberries; washed and hulled
1 cup Sugar
3 Tablespoons Corn Starch
3/4 cup Water

Whipped Cream
1 cup Heavy Cream (Whipping Cream)
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
Bake Pie Crust
Sorry, I don't have pictures of baking the pie crust. I wasn't planning to give these directions. Then as I was writing the post, I thought I really should include them. I plan to make a french silk pie this week, so I will include pictures on baking the pie crust with that post. 

1. Once your pie crust is rolled out and in your pie pan, loosely cover it with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour.

2. Place baking sheet on bottom rack of oven and preheat to 425°F.

3. Once dough is chilled (it should be firm to the touch), pierce bottom and sides with a fork. 

4. Line the crust with a double layer of aluminum foil, making sure the foil is all the way to the edges of the bottom of the pan.

5. Fill the foil with dried beans. Make sure they cover the bottom and go part way up the sides. 

6. Place the pie pan on the baking sheet and reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges of the crust start to turn golden brown.

7. Remove the foil and weights or beans from the pie pan. Continue to bake the pie crust for an additional 15 minutes.

8. Brush the inside of the crust with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water).

9. Bake the crust for an additional 3 minutes.

10. Let the crust cool completely.

Pie Filling
1. Arrange half of the strawberries in the cooled pie crust.

2. Mash the remaining strawberries.

3. In a medium saucepan, combine mashed strawberries with sugar. Cook over medium heat to a boil, stirring frequently.

4. In a measuring cup, whisk together corn starch and water. 

5. Gradually stir water mixture into berry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer until thick, approximately 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

I'm not sure the picture shows it, but this is thick.

6. Pour berry mixture into pie crust over berries.

7. Chill for at least 3 hours.

I had a little too much berry mixture, but I couldn't
bear to throw it out. You really should be able to see
the whole berry tips after you pour the mixture in.
It is prettier and more of a show stopper that way.
But it still tasted amazing!

Whipped Cream
For best results, bowl and whisk should be cold. 

1. I placed my bowl and whisk in the freezer for approximately 5 minutes.

2. Beat cream on medium until just before peaks form.

3. Add sugar and vanilla, and beat on high until peaks form. Don't over-beat it, or you will have sweet butter.

Serve pie topped with whipped cream. 

The perfect end to a great dinner. I hope you enjoy it!


"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Sheryl