Every week I ask her what she wants to make when we bake. I start asking at the beginning of the week and ask as couple of times over the next few days. So far she’s been pretty consistent. She tells me what she wants and sticks to it throughout the week. This week she alternated between raspberry cake and raspberry pie, finally settling on “baby raspberry pie”. I decided to go with hand pies, I knew she would like them because they’re easy to pick up and eat, plus she’s loves rolling out and cutting dough.When we got to the assembly part, I pulled up her high chair, gave her some filling and 2 pieces of dough. She watched thoughtfully while I showed and explained how to assemble one and then did it. She did it surprisingly well with little mess. Seriously I don’t think most 10 year olds can fashion hand pies like this kid. Sadly I let her eat it before I took a picture of it. I pulled the blackberries out of the fridge and let her stick a whole blackberry inside the pie she made. When I gave her the container of berries she excitedly exclaimed “woah mom, got about blackberries!” She’s been saying she “(for)got about” anything that gets set aside and come back to later on. I find it pretty hilarious. She could hardly wait to eat her pies when they came out of the oven, it took much convincing to give them time to cool. These little pies were the perfect baking project for her, I only wish we had made more!
Raspberry Hand Pies

Ingredients

For the Crust:

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
5 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ice cold water
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

For the Filling:

10 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
Seed from 1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon corn starch

1 egg beaten plus 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Turbinado sugar for dusting

Directions

1. To make the crust, in the bowl of a mixer, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add cold, cubed butter and, and slowly work the butter into the flour mixture. Quickly break the butter down into the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, some will be the size of peas. Stir together the ice cold water and vinegar. This process goes even better if you keep your flour in the freezer like I do. Add the water and vinegar. Try to moisten all of the flour bits. I noticed I had to add a bit more water this time than the last time I made this dough. The air is much drier here in January so add a few more tablespoons if it doesn’t feel moist. On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture. It will be moist and shaggy. That’s perfect. Divide the dough in two and gently knead into two disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. To make the filling combine raspberries, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds in a medium saucepan. Cook until berries just begin to break down. Add cornstarch and cook 2 more minutes simmering. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove one of the pie dough disks from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into about a 13-inch round. Roll the dough a few strokes, then use your fingers to move the emerging circle around the floured surface. This ensures that the dough isn’t sticking to the work surface. Using a large biscuit cutter cut out as many circles as you can from the dough. Repeat with other disk. Combine scraps and repeat until no dough remains. I got about 24 rounds plus one large piece left over for a certain two year old to make doggie pie.

4. To assemble, brush the edges of one circle with egg wash. Place 1-2 teaspoons of raspberry filling in the center. Place another round of dough on top and push down edges to close. Seal edges using a fork. Be careful not to overfill your pies or filling will leak out during the baking process. Once all pies are assembled, brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

5. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then turn down oven to 375 and bake for another 10 minutes. Pies are done with crust is golden brown.