So, earlier today, this was my excuse to have chocolate for breakfast: Cherry Chocolate Hand Pies. Nom nom nom. Would be equally as good for dessert (with ice cream!), a snack or with your afternoon coffee break.
Ingredients
for the pastry
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling
6 cups jarred tart cherries, pitted and drained of juice (reserve 1/4 cup of juice)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with the reserved cherry juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 egg beaten with a little bit of milk, for egg wash
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using purses until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball, divide, then flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 2 hours.
In the meantime, make your filling as this should also cool. IN a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cherries and sugar until they are at a rolling bowl. Add corn starch and cherry juice slurry and stir constantly as it comes to a full boil. It will thicken quickly. Once thick, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Transfer to another bowl and let cool completely. Once cool, add the chocolate ships (you don’t want them to melt at this point.
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
Remove dough from the refrigerator. Remove one piece of dough from the refrigerator. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch (3mm) thick. Cut out 4 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the filling, leaving about 1/4 inch of space before the edge. Using a knife, score the second piece of dough and then place the second square over the mixture and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork. If you want to make the pretty flower cut-outs, use a very small cookie or fondant cutter in the shape of a flower, star, heart or circle on one the top circle. You don’t have to do this; you will need to make vents in the top part of the pies, but you can also just cut little slits in the top part.
Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough and filling. You should get 6-8 hand pies from this recipe.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Let rest for a minimum of 10 minutes before eating (the filling will be very hot). Can be eaten hot (with ice cream) or at room temperature out of hand.
