Sour Cherry & Lavender Hand Pies

These sour cherry and lavender hand pies are the living proof that summer is here to stay for a while and brought with her lots of goodies.

This season is definitely a feast of the flavors and fresh ingredients and I’m telling you that there’s no day without cooking in my kitchen, no day without enjoying the gifts of summer, as it sent us food to create special memories with it.

I decided to honour a bunch of sour cherries I found at the market the other days and mix them with lavender for a unique flavor which proved to be DIVINE.

The filling for the hand pies is really simple to prepare, but the secret is to leave the sour cherries to infuse longer in the fridge, for all the flavor to mix well together. Just image the sour cherries’ juice with a bit of lime juice, cardamom (is it that obvious I use it for all my desserts? 🙂 ), honey and lavender flower.  an you already smell the flavor? 🙂

Oh, but when it comes to the dough, there are so many tips and hints out there on how to make the “perfect” one, and my humble conclusion is that there’s no “perfect dough” is just the one you like the most. The key is for butter to be cold and to work it with your hands as little as possible, that’s all you need to remember (warm butter will release water, which will go into the dough and mess up with the gluten, hence more bread like dough in the end).

And speaking of fat in the dough, my mind immediately went back to my sweet childhood memories and my mom’s horn shaped cookies which had lots of lard in them. And plum jam, and icing sugar on top. So if this fancies you, go ahead and substitute the butter with lard, this will definitely be a successful recipe.

These hand pies go for the messy desserts category, they are flexible, these are not the stiff type desserts I was used to, these pies speak of freedom in the kitchen, and this is something that represents me.

Ok, enough with the talking, and let’s do some easy baking today 🙂

Drop me a comment below if you try out the recipe, to let me know your thoughts.

Love,

Cori

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Sour Cherry & Lavender Hand Pies

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By Cori Costache – Serves: 7 hand pies

Prep Time: 10 min + refrigeration time for the dough and the filling – Cooking Time: 40 mins

These sour cherry and lavender hand pies are the living proof of that the summer is here to stay for a while and brought with her lots of goodies

Ingredients

• 250 gr flour + 1 tbsp for the filling, and more for dusting
• 125 gr cold butter (I used 82% fat butter)
• 1 tbsp sugar + extra for sprinkle on top
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3-4 tbsp cold water (the amount will vary based on the type of flour you use)
• 250-300 gr pitted sour cherries
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp lavender flowers (I used the one for tea, but fresh lavender works perfectly fine too)
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 1 egg for brushing the crust

Instructions

1

Make the dough: in a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the diced butter straight from the fridge, and mix it with the tip of your fingers until all resembles to bread crumbs.

2

Add the ice cold water, 1 tablespoon at the time, until the dough holds together. If it's too dry, add a bit more water, and try to work it as little as possible, not to warm up the ingredients. It's ok if the dough is still a bit crumbly.

3

Gather the dough into a thick disk and after you wrap it in plastic foil and refrigerate it for at least 30 mins.

4

Prepare the filling: pit the sour cherries and mix them with 2 tbsp of honey (add more if the sour cherries are really sour), lime juice, cardamom, lavender flowers and flour. Let them infuse in the fridge for about 2 hours or overnight if the time is on your side.

5

Preheat the oven at 170C.

6

Take the dough out from the fridge and let it warm up for 5-7 mins until you start rolling it out. Divide it in 7 or more small discs, based on how big you want your hand pies to be. I had a small dough of about 16-17 cm in diameter. Dust some more flour if the dough gets sticky. The

7

Roll each small dough until it reaches about 2 mm thickness. Add the sour cherry and lavender filling, making sure to leave the margins uncovered. Fold the dough in half, covering the entire sour cherry filling, and stick the margins together with the tip of a fork.

8

Create a small X shape or 2 small cuts in the middle for the steam to go out while baking the hand pies.

9

Brush them with a beaten egg and sprinkle some sugar on top,

10

Bake the hand pies for about 40 min, or until the crusts becomes golden and the filling starts to bubble.

11

Enjoy at room temperature with a nice cup of tea.