Homemade Pear Hand Pies

Whether you know these delicious little treats as turnovers or hand pies, you’re gonna love them! Even more so when you hear how quickly these can be made. Easy homemade pear hand pies with a hint of ginger, oven-baked and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They are wonderful to enjoy heated and served with a scoop of ice cream for a dessert, but not too sweet to enjoy with morning coffee. The kids will love them, too!

The secret to making these so quick and easy is using ready-made pie crust. I shared my freezer-friendly bulk homemade pie crust dough a few weeks ago. Although I used fresh pears in this recipe, frozen pears can be thawed and used, too. Apples can be substituted for the pears.

Homemade Pear Hand Pies

Print recipe

Prep 10 minutes Cook 25 – 30 minutes Yield 7 or 8 (depending on thickness of dough & amount of filling)

Ingredients

• 1 double pie crust (or my homemade pie crust dough)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon butter, grated or finely diced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cups peeled & diced pears, about 1/2″squares
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

Tip: I find it easiest to roll my dough out on a large floured sheet of parchment paper. After all 8 circles are cut out, cut the paper so each dough circle is on a paper piece. This makes it so much easier to fold and transfer the hand pies to the baking sheet.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
3. Add grated (or diced) butter and lemon juice. Stir with a fork until the mixture looks like cornmeal.
4. Carefully stir in diced pears until well coated, then set aside.
5. Mix the egg with 1 tablespoon of water, then set aside.
6. Roll out the pie crust dough on a floured surface. Cut circles of dough about 5″ in diameter using a bowl or plastic lid as a guide. Knead scraps and re-roll to end up with 8 circles.
7. Place a couple of spoonfuls of pears in the center of each circle, be sure to leave a 1/2″ edge all around the outer edge of the dough circle.
8. Brush the egg mix around the outer edge.
9. Carefully lift the dough on one side to fold over the pear filling.
10. Using a fork, press the edges together to seal.
11. Carefully move the folded hand pies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
12. Brush the hand pies with the remaining egg mixture. Sprinkle with a little granulated sugar, if desired.
13. Make a couple of small cuts across the top for the steam to escape.
14. Bake at 350°F/177°C for 25 – 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

After baking, use a small strainer to add a little powdered sugar, if desired.

I know . . . not all of my hand pies turned out pretty. I made these immediately after spending over an hour peeling and cutting up pears. When I apologized to Hubby about them not being very pretty, he said “But they were still good!” And that, my Friends, is what matters most.

A few days after I made these turnovers, I took one dough package out of the freezer and let it thaw for 25 minutes. Then I rolled the dough out on a parchment paper lined (flour coated) baking sheet and cut out 3 circles. I put a couple of spoonfuls of canned blueberry pie filling in the center of each circle. Instead of stirring up the egg/water mix, I used a wet finger to run around the edges (just to see if it would work), then sealed and crimped the edges, followed by a quick spray of butter-flavored cooking spray and a sprinkle of granulated sugar. Not including thawing and baking time, they took only 5 minutes to put together.

I’m happy to report that even without the egg wash, they were a nice little treat! Not too filling and not too sweet.