Stone Fruit Hand Pies

Your favorite stone fruits inside a flaky crust that you can hold in your hand!

Do you know what “stone fruit” means? Because I sure didn’t until a few weeks ago. I had never even heard of the term “stone fruit” let alone knew what it meant and now here I am posting about making something with said fruit.

Oh, and I used all yellow stone fruits, to continue my current yellow fruit obsession. Peach, yellow plum, and yellow (Rainier) cherries. I can’t take credit for the fruit combination (Audra at The Baker Chick), but what a flavor combination it was! A wonderful explosion on my taste buds. Can it be stone fruit season all year long? Please?

I really enjoyed the ease of using a pre-made crust, although next time I will make it with a less puffier kind. I enjoyed the flaky texture, but wish it weren’t so puffy. (Who knew that PUFF pastry gets puffy?) Although they actually remind me of the apple hand pies (sans apples) you can get at McDonald’s. But better. And bigger. Did I mention better?

STONE FRUIT HAND PIES

Makes 6 hand pies

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp cold water

1 peach, pitted and cut into chunks

1 yellow plum, pitted and cut into chunks

6 Rainier cherries, stemmed, pitted and quartered

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup sugar + more for sprinkling

1 box frozen puff pastry, defrosted in fridge

1 egg + 1 Tbsp warm water, beaten

Directions:

1. Whisk together the cold water and cornstarch in a small bowl until all the cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside.
2. Combine the fruit, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium high on the stove. Once the mixture has started to simmer, slowly drizzle in the cornstarch/water and stir constantly while bringing up to a boil briefly. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the pastry.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
4. Working with one piece of puff pastry at a time, roll out to smooth edges and then slice into three equal sized rectangles*. Place on prepared baking sheet.
5. Divide the fruit mixture onto each half of the pastries. Carefully fold over pastry and pinch all edges together well**. Make three small slits into the top of each. Brush the egg mixture on each pie. Sprinkle sugar over each.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

*I cut mine along the seams of the dough. Worked great!

**A fork works great

Source: Adapted from Eat, Live, Run and The Baker Chick.