Strawberry Hand Pies with Decorations

These beautifully decorated Strawberry Hand Pies are just as delicious as they are impressive. The pie crust is so flaky and buttery; the homemade Strawberry Compote filling is not too sweet. They are the perfect dessert or snack that you’ll want to eat everyday this summer.

Strawberry Hand Pies are just the perfect summer treats. They’re lightweight and versatile, the perfect dessert for a picnic, a summer potluck or just a fancy everyday snack. Of course, they taste best on the day they are baked, but just a few minutes in the oven the next day can transform the leftovers.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Fits in the palm of your hand – this mini strawberry pie recipe yields 6 perfectly sized hand pies you can take on the go and snack on anytime of the day.
• Easy options for filling – I used leftover strawberry compote for the filling in this recipe. You can use strawberry jam or cook up a quick strawberry pie filling with fresh or frozen berries.
• Make it simple with store bought pie dough – while I’m a big advocate for homemade pie dough, I’m not opposed to using refrigerated pie dough or even puff pastry dough to simplify the process.

Tools you’ll need

You will need the following tools to make these decorated strawberry hand pies:

• A food processor or stand mixer to make the pie dough. Or you can make it by hand too!
• Rolling pin to roll out the pie dough.
• A 3″ round cookie cutter to cut circles for your hand pies.
• Small cookie cutter or pie stamps for cutting the decorations if you choose. I use the inserts of a Linzer cookie cutter set for small star and heart shapes.
• A ruler and pizza wheel to cut thin strips of dough for the braided decorations.
• A baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat to bake the pies on.
• A pastry brush to apply egg wash.

Ingredients and substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips for the main groups of ingredient:

1. One batch of pie dough – this includes all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt, unsalted butter, and cold water. You can use store bought refrigerated pie dough instead. Make sure to buy the type that you can roll out, not the one already shaped in a pie pan. If you want to make the decorations, prepare to use two batches of pie dough or you’ll end up with a smaller batch of pies.

2. Strawberry compote filling – made with fresh strawberries, orange zest, orange juice, granulated sugar, and just a pinch of salt. If you don’t already have a batch of compote siting in the fridge, just use strawberry jam or cook up a quick pie filling used in these chocolate strawberry hand pies.

3. Egg wash – one egg and a tablespoon of cream, milk, or water, beaten together. This mixture get brushed on the surface of the pie crust to create that golden brown color when baked. You’ll also use it to “glue” the decorations onto the mini strawberry pies if you choose to decorate them.

4. Turbinado sugar – sprinkle this on top of your hand pies for sparkle and a little texture. White sanding sugar will work too.

How to make strawberry hand pies with decorations

In the following sections, I will break down these strawberry mini pies into three main components: the strawberry filling, the pie crust and the decorations. Follow along to learn how to make them. Or skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

The strawberry pie filling

If you don’t have a leftover batch of strawberry compote, these hand pies would be just as delicious with strawberry jam for filling.

Or you can make a quick strawberry pie filling using fresh (or frozen) strawberries, some orange zest and orange juice, enough sugar to sweeten, a pinch of salt and enough cornstarch to thicken. It should take just 5 minutes to bring together.

Note: Let the filling cool before using. You can make the strawberry pie filling while waiting for the pie dough to rest in the refrigerator to make the best use of your time.

The pie crust

For a super detailed step by step tutorial on How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust, you can geek out on that post instead. But in short, you can use a food processor or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or simply make the pie dough by hand.

Mix together flour, sugar, salt and work the cold butter into the mixture quickly as not to melt it. Drizzle in cold water to bring the dough together into a disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling out.

Once your pie dough is ready to work with, you will roll it out to about ⅛” to ¼” thick. Cut 12 circles using a 3″ round cookie cutter. You will use 6 for the top crust and 6 for the bottom crust.

Note: One batch of pie dough will yield 6 fully decorated 3” hand pies. If you want to skip the decorations, you can make 9 plain hand pies.

The decorations

After you cut out twelve 3″ circles for the top and bottom crust, you should have leftover dough to make decorations. Use small cookie cutters to cut out cute shapes. I used the heart and star shape from this Linzer Cookie Cutter set. Any small cookie cutters or pie stamps about 1″ in size will work.

When you have exhausted all the space to cut out shapes, gather the dough together and shape into a ball. This can be rolled out again to about ⅛” thick and divided into thin strips for braiding. Working with three strips at a time, pinch the top together and form a braid.

Tip: At this point, the dough might be quite soft from being out on the counter for a while, you can chill it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. This will help cutting it into strips and braiding easier as well.

Assembling the hand pies

Place six 3” circles on a parchment line baking sheet. Roll the other six out slightly larger; these will be use for the top and need to be slightly larger to cover the filling.

Working with one pie at a time, brush egg wash around the edge, spoon one heaping tablespoon of homemade Strawberry Compote in the middle.

Add the slightly larger top crust to cover the filling, press the edges together and seal with a fork.

Adding the decorations

You should have enough decorative shapes and braids to fully decorate six hand pies. Brush the top of the pies with egg wash to help the decoration stick to it. You can trim the braids to fit the entire circle or half circle. Use the star and heart shapes to cover the seams and ends of the braids.

Baking the Pies

Rest the fully decorated strawberry hand pies in the freezer while the oven is preheating. This will help preserve the shape of the decorations. However, if your freezer is not big enough for a baking sheet, the refrigerator will work.

Brush egg wash generously all over the pies to ensure everything turns golden brown when baked. Be sure to poke a few steam vents using the tip of a paring knife through the top layer of the pies. Now sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

More baker’s tips

• Keep your cool – it it crucial to keep the dough cold throughout the process so it doesn’t become too soft which makes it difficult to work with.
• The freezer is your friend – if you have room in your freezer, freezing the unbaked pies, with decorations and all, about 15 minutes to half an hour before baking (while you’re preheating the oven) is recommended to keep the crust more flaky and the decorations from spreading out of shape. If freezing is not an options, keep them refrigerated.
• Filling variations – use blueberry compote, mixed berry compote, or even cherry compote. You can cook any of these compotes with a bit of cornstarch to thicken into a pie filling.

Storage

All baked goods are best the day they are baked, and these mini strawberry pies are no different, especially when they are still slightly warm. Leftovers can be kept at room temperature overnight. Beyond that, I recommend keeping them refrigerated to keep the fruit filling fresh, unless you use store bought jam for the filling.

These pies will last up to a week under refrigeration and 3-6 months in the freezer. Store them in an airtight container. And thaw completely at room temperature before serving.

If you prefer your strawberry mini pies warm with crispy crust, toast them up in the oven at 350°F for about 5 – 7 minutes.

FAQs

More summer strawberry recipes

• Strawberry Galettes
• Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
• Strawberry Scones
• Mini Strawberry Cake
• Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

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📖 Recipe card

Strawberry Hand Pies

These beautiful Strawberry Hand Pies are filled with delicious leftover homemade strawberry compote. This is a small batch recipe which makes just six beautifully decorated hand pies that will for sure impress anyone.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert, Pie

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Resting time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 hand pies

Calories: 347kcal

Author: Trang

Ingredients

1 batch of pie crust

• ▢ 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (200 g)
• ▢ 2 rounded tablespoon granulated sugar (35 g)
• ▢ ¼ rounded teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 5 ounce unsalted butter (cold and cubed, 142 g)
• ▢ 3 tablespoon cold water
• ▢ Extra flour for rolling

Pie filling

• ▢ ¾ cup strawberry compote (see notes)

Egg wash

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon of cream (milk or water )
• ▢ Turbinado sugar

Instructions

Make the dough

• Add flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Then transfer to a food processor fitted with the dough blade.
• Cube the cold butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size, variation in size is okay, but no smaller than a pea.
• Turn the food processor to “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and get a spatula to get the flour at the bottom to mix up.
• Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

Prepare the pie

• Take the pie dough out of the refrigerator and roll out to between ⅛” to ¼” thick. Use extra flour to keep dough from sticking to the counter and roller.
• Cut into 12 circles using a 3” cookie cutter. Place the circle on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Using mini decorative cookies cutters, cut out as many shapes as you can to decorate the top of the hand pies. I used stars and hearts. Place the shapes on a plate and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Gather the remaining dough together and knead back into a ball. Roll it out to ⅛” thick. If the dough is getting too soft, refrigerate before cutting. Use a pizza cutter to cut into thin strips about ⅛” thick. Using three strips at a time, braid the dough. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Beat an egg with one tablespoon of cream, milk or water to make egg wash.
• Take out the dough circles from earlier, place six of them on a parchment line baking sheet about 1”-2” apart.
• With the other six circle, roll them out slightly larger than originally, about half an inch more. These will be use as the top of the hand pies.
• Brush egg wash around the edge of one of the circle on the baking sheet, spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of strawberry compote in the middle. Take one of the larger circles rolled out earlier and cover the filling. Press the edges together and seal with a fork. Repeat for the remaining circles.
• To decorate the pies, brush the top of the pies, wherever you want the decorations to stick to with egg wash and add decorations on top. Trim the braided pieces to fit the entire circle or half circle. Add a heart or star to cover the seams, or ends of the braids.
• Preheat oven to 400°F, let the pies rest in the freezer (or refrigerator) while the oven is preheating.
• Just before baking, brush egg wash generously over the entire surface of the pies, including the decorations. Create steam vents on the top by poking holes with the tip of a paring knife. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
• Bake 20 mins uncovered until golden brown
• Remove from oven and allow to cool to the touch on a wire rack.

Notes

1. While working with pie dough, always have extra flour on hand to cover the counter, cookie cutter, cutting tools to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to anything.
2. If at any point, the dough feels to soft, chill it in the refrigerator before continuing to the next step.
3. This recipe uses about half a batch of this homemade strawberry compote. Store bought strawberry pie filling or jam can be for a simple substitution.
4. To make a small batch of strawberry pie filling, use the following ingredients:
   • • ½ pound fresh (or frozen) strawberry (227 g)
   • • Zest of ½ orange
   • • 1 tablespoon orange juice
   • • 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
   • • 1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch
   • • A pinch of kosher salt

Nutrition

Serving: 106g | Calories: 347kcal

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