Hand pies. Because they are tasty, and easy to transport.

Raspberry White Chocolate Hand Pies with lemon/vanilla crust!

Things you will need:

Flat surface for rolling dough.
Rolling pin
Stand mixer, or food processor
Baking sheets
Parchment paper
Cling film
fork
spoon
measuring devices/food scales

Ingredients:

3 C, or 480 G Flour
2 sticks, or 230 G very cold butter
2 eggs
1/2 C, or 100 G sugar
Juice and Zest of one small lemon
1/8 C, or 29 ML vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 C white chocolate chips.  Get a good brand that actually tastes like cocoa butter.  I like Sunspire, ghiradelli, green and black's and Lindt.  Those ones are all super great.  A shark would even like them.  Some brands just taste like greasy sugar, so sample and experiment with this, if you have time, and you can.


I decided to do something kind of weird with this dough.  There is no water in it.  At all.  In fact, the only water is in the egg wash.  In this dough you will find just lemon juice, and vanilla.  But that's all you need, and whoa, Nelly, is it ever tasty!

Method:

Begin by adding your flour, baking powder, salt, and butter to the stand mixer.  Mix thoroughly, until your mixture resembles very tiny peas; not quite sand.  And here's a handy-dandy tip!  Do THIS with your mixer, so you don't get a flour shower.  No one gets any power from a flour shower.  There is no such thing as flour shower power, unless you feed off of anger.  If that's your trip, go ahead and skip this, I guess...

May as well juice your lemon now, but wait until the next step, before adding it.

Add your first egg and lemon zest.

Add your vanilla, and lemon juice.  I figured out that 1/8 of a cup, or 29 ML, is also just 2 tablespoons.  So, use one of those, if you don't have a measuring cup this small.

Your mixture should look like crumbs, but hold together.  Turn this out onto your work surface, and give it a very slight knead.  Nothing like bread, but you do want to go slightly more than you would with a regular pie dough, so it is pliable enough to shape, later on.  Once you have formed a ball, wrap this in cling, and refrigerate, one hour.

I like to slice this into manageable pieces, so I do it in fourths.

Knead your first piece, then roll it out into the best square you can come up with.  The crust should be about 1/4 an inch thick.

Cut this into smaller squares, and if there is an uneven shape, turn the half that mirrors the other half so it faces the same way.

Next, brush the edges of one half of the pie with egg wash.  (1 egg, 1 tsp water.)

Prick the other half with a fork.

Fill the brushed side with jam.  Less is more here.  Do not attempt to Pump Up The Jam, unless you want a mess.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  Add white chocolate chips to the top of the jam.

Place the pricked side of the pie on top, pressing the edges down with your fingers, and crimping with your fork.

Repeat this process until you have as many pies as you had set out to make.  They don't have to be large, or small.  It's all about what you want to do, here.

Brush the tops of these babies with more egg wash, and bake in a 350 F or 180 C oven, for 24 minutes, or until the tops have browned nicely, like so.

Enjoy!

-H