Cherry, Orange & Rye Hand Pies

With the end of the year comes the gift-giving season. There is nothing better than homemade treats made with love and packaged beautifully, given to dear ones to ooh and ahh over. These glittery hand pies are darling, timeless, perfect little packages filled with a surprise. Make these using preserves which aren’t too sweet, such as sour cherry, blueberry, blackberry, lingonberry, or cranberry. Added to the sour cherry preserves is orange zest and Contratto, which deepens the overall flavor. Contratto is Aperol’s grown-up sister: it imparts an earthier quality and uses no artificial flavors or colors. If you have a few jars of preserves staring at you from the pantry or fridge, this is the way to give them their best life. Once baked, you’ll have a tough time figuring out which is the star: the flaky, sparkly pastry, or the just-sweet-enough filling….

If you plan to mail the pies… send them priority, wrapped in paper (not plastic) the day you bake, so the buttery layers retain their flaky crumb.

Cherry, Orange & Rye Hand Pies

Makes 18-20

FOR THE DOUGH

• 1 ¼ cups AP flour

• 1 ¼ cups rye flour

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp sugar

• 2 sticks grass-fed butter, cubed and freezer-cold

• 1 pasture-raised egg

• ⅓ cup ice water

• ¼ cup cider vinegar

FOR THE FILLING

• 1 ½ cups cherry compote or preserves

• 1 tbsp Contratto or other earthy orange liquor

• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

• zest from ½ orange

• ½ tsp cornstarch

• pinch kosher salt

TO FINISH THE PIES

• 1 egg, beaten for eggwash

• Demerara sugar, to sprinkle

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine water and vinegar in a measuring cup and add a few ice cubes.

2. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter, just until pea-sized bits remain. Add the egg and cut in to incorporate. Drizzle the vinegar-water mixture a little at a time, cutting the liquid into the dough, pausing to check and see if dough holds together when squeezed between your fingers. Use only as much as needed for the dough to come together without crumbling.

3. Alternatively, pulse dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor to combine. Add the butter and pulse at intervals, until pea-sized bits form. Add the egg and pulse. Run the processor at intervals while drizzling the ice water-vinegar mixture, until a cohesive dough forms. As you would in the pastry blender method, test by squeezing a clump between your fingers.

4. Divide dough evenly onto two segments of cellophane. Use the cellophane as a barrier to limit how much you handle the dough: hold opposite ends and press to form the dough into a mass. Flatten it into a disk, wrap securely, and repeat with remaining dough. Refrigerate pastry for at least 20 minutes to allow them to mellow. This step can be done 3 days in advance.

5. In a medium bowl, combine all filling ingredients and stir until uniform.

6. Remove pastry from the refrigerator 15 minutes before attempting to work it.

7. Roll pastry to 1/8-inch thick. Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut disks into the pastry, dipping the cutter into flour in-between, tapping off excess as you go. Combine scraps and re-roll until you’re left with no more.

8. Spoon tablespoons of the fruit mixture into the center of half the pastry disks.

9. Working one at a time, wet the periphery of each top disk with your index finger, then secure onto the preserve-topped base. Work from opposite sides to gently seal the entire edge, using the flat of your fingers.

10. With a fork, crimp the edge, overlapping one tine as you work around the circumference. It helps to dip the tines into flour between each round so they don’t stick as you work. If the pastry drags at any point, chill for 10 minutes in the refrigerator and then continue where you left off.

11. Score an “X” into the center of each pie for venting once the pies have chilled for at least 20 minutes. Paint each pie with eggwash and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Freeze 4 hours, up to overnight.

12. In a preheated 400º oven, arrange hand pies on two parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes. Rotate pans and swap racks for the last 5-10 minutes, or until pies are deeply golden. It is okay if preserves leak - fruit leather for cook’s treat. Once cooled on wire racks for 15-20 minutes, they are ready to eat or wrap for gifting.