Blueberry Hand Pies
Makes 8
Pastry
2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour ½ teaspoon fine sea salt 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
Filling
2 cups blueberries 3 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch (if using frozen blueberries, increase to 1½ tablespoons) 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon lemon zest ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon Fine sea salt to taste 1 egg Sanding sugar, for topping
Instructions: Fill a 1 cup measuring cup with ice and add water. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and toss to coat with flour. Using a pastry cutter, two butter knives or your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour until the pieces of butter are about ½ inch. Add ½ cup of the ice water and continue cutting the butter into the flour until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface.
The dough will look very rough at this point, hardly like dough at all. This is OK. Pat into a rectangle as best you can, then use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll into a ragged 6-by-18-inch rectangle. With a bench scraper, fold both short ends toward each other so they meet in the middle. Fold one half over the other half to make a 4-by-6-inch rectangle. Turn the dough so that the fold is on the right. Roll into a 6-by-18-inch rectangle and repeat the folding technique described above, then wrap the rectangle tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Return the dough to the lightly floured work surface and position so the fold is on the right. Roll into a 6-by-18-inch rectangle and fold the dough again as directed above, flouring the dough to prevent sticking. At this point the dough should look smooth, with visible tongues of butter. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, zest, cinnamon, salt and 1 tablespoon of ice water. Stir to combine then cook, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries release their juices and the juices thicken, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until cold; it will thicken as it cools.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, cut in half crosswise into two pieces, and return one piece to the refrigerator. On a lightly floured work surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about 17-by-11 inches and ¼-inch thick. With a 5-inch round cutter (if you don’t have one, improvise with a cereal bowl, small plate or lid), stamp out 4 rounds from the dough (save the scraps, which can be dusted with cinnamon sugar or grated cheese and baked as a snack). Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet and return to the refrigerator. Repeat the rolling and cutting with the other half of the dough, laying them on a second silicon baking sheet or piece of parchment and transferring to the refrigerator when done (you can stack on top of the others).
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and 1 teaspoon of water. Working with the four pastry rounds you cut first, use a pastry brush to paint egg wash around the border of each circle of dough. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the blueberry filling into the center of a round of dough, then fold over to form a half moon, using the tines of a fork to crimp the edges, sealing them tightly (do not overfill the turnovers, or they’ll be harder to form and more likely to leak). Return the filled hand pies to the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
When all of the hand pies have been formed, refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the pies from the freezer and use the tip of a sharp small knife to cut a few vents in the top of each. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Transfer to the oven and bake until the pastry is puffed and deep golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven; if some of the filling has escaped from the seam, use a small spoon to scoop it back into the pastry. Let cool slightly, then use a spatula to transfer the pies to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. The pies are best eaten the same day they are made.