Peach Hand Pies

I look forward to peach season eagerly. A bite into a ripe, juicy peach is sublime. I can wax lyrical for a while as I love them so. Today I try my hand at hand pies. 

In an attempt to declutter, I have been getting rid of old  foodie magazines, keeping recipes that catch my eye. This is one. Intended for blueberries, now amended for peaches, the dough is an easy mix. A quick cool in the fridge, it rolls out beautifully with a little bench flour. Rectangles of dough are topped and covered with chopped peaches, flavored with sugar and cornstarch. Hand pies come in all shapes...squares, rectangles, half moons and circles. Mine are not so neat rectangles, pressed with the tines of a fork to make a tight seal. Baked till toasty, they emerge as small pockets of sweet peach filling, encrusted in a crisp dough. Mouthwateringly good.

PEACH HAND PIES

Makes 8-10

1 1/2 cups all purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 cup cold Butter, cut into small pieces  

1/2 cup Water

2 ripe Peaches

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 heaped teaspoon Cornstarch 

A pinch of Kosher Salt

Place flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. 

Scatter cold butter over flour. Pulse till the dough has a sandy texture. 

Spoon water into the dough and pulse. The dough should gather together in a lump as you pulse. Add more water a teaspoon at a time till the dough comes together.

Spread a bench flour on the counter. 

Scrape dough onto flour. Use your hands to gather the dough together and shape it into a small rectangle. 

Put the dough into plastic wrap or a bag and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Peel peaches and slice into small chunks. Put them in a bowl.

Add sugar, kosher salt and cornstarch to peaches and stir to mix. 

Take dough out of the fridge. 

Spread some flour on the counter.

Roll the dough out into an approximate 14" by 10"rectangle that is 1/5" thick.

Use a knife and ruler to trim the edges into a 12"x 8"rectangle. 

Divide the dough into 8 rectangles.

Gather the scraps of dough and roll and trim them into more rectangles.

Heat oven to 350F/180C.

Spoon about 3-4 peach chunks onto the lower portion of one rectangle. Bring it over to cover the peaches and press the edges down. Use the tines of a fork to make a tight seal.

Do the same for the rest. 

Place pies on a baking sheet covered with parchment or a silicone mat. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes till golden. 

Cool on a rack for 5 minutes. 

Take a big bite of the hand pie. Reward enough!

How rewarding are these small peach pockets. A pie in hand is worth all the wait!

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