Have a Heart (Strawberry Heart Hand Pies)

I am always looking for new and fun ways to tell the people in my life I love them. We have all made cookies, and given flowers, and bought chocolates. This year I thought I would change it up with a cute and whimsical take on the heart-shaped cookie we all know and love.























Ingredients:

CRUST

2 ¼ Cups All Purpose Flour
¼ Cup Shortening - Cold
¾ Cup Butter – cubed and Cold
¼ Ice Water
½ tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Egg

Turbinado Sugar for Garnish

FILLING

1 Quart of Fresh Strawberries Sliced and Mashed OR 4 Cups of frozen strawberries thawed and juice extracted
6-8 Fresh Strawberries thinly sliced
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
½ Cup Granulated Sugar
¼ Cup Corn Starch
1 ½ tsp Vanilla
Zest of One Lemon

Active Prep Time: 20 Minutes
In Active Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Yields: 20 Hand Pies

Directions:

In the bowl of your food processor or mixer put the flour, shortening, butter, salt, and sugar. Mix it together until the dough looks pebble-like. Slowly stream in the water until the dough comes together as one big ball. Take the dough out of the mixer, or food processor, and form it into a flat disc and cover with plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator for an hour, or in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium size sauce pan put the mashed strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla and stir over medium-high heat. Keep stirring the mixture until it starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Taste. If it needs a little more acid add some of the lemon zest until you reach the right balance. The filling is done when you pull your wooden spoon through the mixture and the path stays clean for a few seconds. Take the filling off the heat and let it cool.

When the filling has cooled to at least warm, and the dough is nice and cold, preheat the oven to 350 and flour a clean flat work surface. Roll out the pie dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut out heart-shaped pie crusts. Take one heart, place 3 fresh strawberry slices on the bottom and top it with the pie filling. Then put a heart crust on top. Put egg wash along the edges and crimp the ends with a fork. Put an X in the center of the hand pie to allow the steam to get out. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle the turbinado sugar for garnish.


Put the pies on parchment lined cookies sheets and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with Bourbon Whipped cream.


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