Last Friday, I was gifted with a giant bucketful of sour cherries.

My herbalist has access to a sour cherry tree and recommended a Cook’s Illustrated version of cherry pie.  Because I was not sure how “cut and sharable,” a cherry pie would be, or how long one may last before melting into a soggy mess, I decided to improvise and bake small sour cherry hand pies.

I was inspired by this post on Eli Cooks: http://elicooks.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/cherry-hand-pies/

Sour cherries are edibley sour and full of juice and I enjoy eating them by the handful.  To pit these cherries, I just used a serrated knife to make incisions, and plucked out the pits.  Today, I was not in the mood to make my own pie crust, so I used a prepared crust instead.

The prepared pie crust consisted of frozen blocks of dough that I thawed, rolled, and cut into small circles.  It tasted decent, but like a store-bought pie crust.  Go figure.  Next time, I might attempt to make my own pie crust or try a different brand (The co-op I visited did not have pie crust dough not already pressed into pans).  

Filling: Ingredients

  • 6 cups of sour cherries
  • 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract
  • A small splash of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup-1 cup of honey to taste. 
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 1/2 cup of cornstarch

Filling: Directions
  • Pit the sour cherries. 

  • Mix with almond and vanilla extract and honey.
  • Mix dry ingredients and fold into the sour cherries.  
  • Let sit for about 20 minutes.  (I found the mixture to contain excess liquid).

Making the pies
  • Make an eggwash-beat one egg with a splash of cold water.
  • Brush some eggwash on the outside half of a pastry circle. 
  • Spoon a reasonable amount of cherries onto the pastry circle, draining off excess liquid. 
  • Carefully fold over the pastry circle, and seal with fingers and fork tines. 
  • Brush the hand pies with eggwash and sprinkle with sugar. Slit or poke the top for steam to release.

  • Bake on a greased sheet pan for approximately 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F. 
  • Cool on a rack and enjoy.
The pies will probably leak onto the sheet pan.  A careful eggwashing and sealing will prevent leakage.  The longer you bake, the more likely the pies will still to the caramelized liquid that escapes from the pies.