Apricot Hand Pies Food

APRICOT MINI HAND-PIES

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, cook dried apricots in 1/4 cup water, until tender and soft.
• Add cornstarch, sugar, salt, and butter to pan. Mix well with the apricots. Continue cooking for 3-4 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Add additional water, if needed, to thin mixture out a bit.
• Once mixture thickens, remove it from heat. Pour into a small bowl, cover and chill completely. Once chilled completely, make the pastry dough and roll out on a lightly floured work surface. Using a biscuit cutter or a glass, cut 3 inch circles out of dough.
• Spoon about a Tablespoonful of the filling into the center of one half of the dough. Do not overfill or fill to the edges or the filling will run out while you are crimping the edges!
• Once pastry circles have been filled, pull over half of the dough to cover the filling. You should now have a half circle of dough. Use a fork to "crimp" around the edges of the half circle to seal the two pieces of dough together. This is very important, or the apricot filling will leak out while cooking!
• Preheat oil to 375 degrees. When oil is very hot, carefully place fruit pies in skillet. Cook a couple of minutes on each side. The dough should be golden brown before you turn them or remove them from the pan. Drain fruit pies on paper towels (to absorb extra oil). Making sure the oil in skillet is still very hot, repeat the process until all hand-pies are done cooking. Let hand-pies cool slightly (they will be hot inside!), then serve and enjoy!

BOURBON-PEACH HAND PIES

Steps:

• For the pastry: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, granulated sugar and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some bigger pieces of butter. Add the ice water and pulse just until the crumbs begin to come together. Add a little more water if necessary but try not to add too much. Turn the mixture out onto a big sheet of plastic wrap, form it into a disc, wrap it and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to an even 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out 16 to 20 circles. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and chill while you make the filling.
• For the filling: In a small saucepan, combine the peaches, granulated sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil over medium heat, mashing the peaches with a fork, and cook until the mixture has thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the bourbon to taste. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and salt. On a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment, lay out half of the dough discs. Dollop 1 to 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each disc. Brush around the edges of the pastry with some of the egg mixture. Top with another dough disc, pressing the edges with a fork to seal. Brush the tops with the egg mixture and sprinkle with coarse sugar. With a paring knife, make a little slit in each pie to vent steam.
• Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pies to a rack to cool or serve warm.

PEACH HAND PIES

Steps:

• Combine the peaches, water, vanilla seeds and pod, granulated sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until syrupy and the peaches are soft and just beginning to break down, 12 to 18 minutes. (Add more water if the mixture is too thick.) Discard the vanilla pod and mash the peaches; let cool.
• Preheat the oven to 425˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gather the pie dough into 2 small compact squares; roll out each into a 12-inch square. Cut each in half, then cut each half into thirds to make twelve 4-by-6-inch rectangles.
• Arrange 6 rectangles on the baking sheet and top each with 3 tablespoons of the peach compote. Cover each with another rectangle of dough; crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Cut a small vent into the center of each top; brush with the beaten egg. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

PEACH, APPLE AND CURRANT HAND PIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the chopped apples and sauté, stirring frequently, until they're slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat to low and add in the chopped peaches, dried currants, brown sugar, orange juice, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and turn off the heat. Let the mixture cool before forming the hand pies.
• Meanwhile, prepare your pie dough. Working with one crust at a time, unroll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll the pie dough out into a 13-inch round. Use a 6-inch circle cutter to cut out 3 rounds of pie dough. Place the dough rounds onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat the process with the second crust; you should end up with six 6-inch rounds of pie dough. Reserve leftover pie dough for a later use.
• Working one at a time, place a round of dough on a clean work surface and spoon 1/4 cup filling onto one side of the round. Lift the empty side up and over the filling, creating a half-moon. Use a fork to crimp the edges together, sealing the pie. Place the pie on the prepared baking sheet and repeat the process with the remaining dough and filling.
• To make the egg wash, whisk the egg and a splash of water together in a small bowl. Brush each pie with an even layer of the egg wash and sprinkle on the turbinado sugar if desired. Use a sharp knife to cut an "X" on top of each pie. Transfer the pies to the oven and bake until the pies are golden, 20 to 23 minutes.

JOEY GALLAGHER'S APRICOT HAND PIES

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll one disk of dough into a large round, about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out 12 rounds. Transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet; refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
• Repeat process with the remaining dough, using a 4-inch cookie cutter to make 12 more rounds; do not refrigerate. Remove chilled disks from refrigerator.
• Using paper towels, blot the poached apricots halves to eliminate excess liquid; place one in center of each chilled round. Brush cold water around edges of dough; cover each with an unchilled round. Gently press edges together to seal. Refrigerate about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove tarts from refrigerator. Using a paring knife, slash the top of each tart in a crosshatch fashion. Brush with water, and generously sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees. Continue baking until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer pies to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving. Or let cool completely, and store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days.