I don't know about you, but my favorite part of pie is the buttery, flaky pie crust. So what's even better than a slice of pie? Mini hand pies!! These cute little cranberry hand pies have a tart cranberry sauce filling sandwiched between two layers of my perfect flaky pie crust! They're the perfect holiday treat!
If you love cranberry season as much as I do, you might want to check out the rest of our cranberry treats!
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Ingredient Notes
I use my homemade flaky pie crust and super simple cranberry sauce for these mini hand pies!
Pastry Flour - I always use pastry flour in my pie crust because it yields a lighter, more tender crust. However, all purpose flour will work great if that's all you have!
Butter - The most important consideration for making pastry dough is cold butter!! If the butter gets too warm while you're making the dough, the crust won't be as flaky.
Vegetable Shortening - I like to use a small amount of shortening with the butter to help keep the crust stable and super flaky. But you can substitute with more butter instead!
Cranberries - I prefer using fresh cranberries if possible but frozen cranberries will work too!
Cornstarch - I use cornstarch to help thicken the filling, but you can also substitute flour or clear jel. This is a great guide for making those substitutions!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
If you have leftover cranberry sauce from the holidays, you can just use that instead!
Add all of the filling ingredients to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the cranberries begin to split open.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Remove the cinnamon stick, then transfer to a bowl and chill until ready to use.
Make sure the filling is completely chilled before assembling the hand pies.
How to Make Perfect Pie Crust
I've included the recipe for my perfect flaky pie crust in this recipe, but I also have a whole blog post dedicated to just pie crust! I break down my 5 main tips for making perfect pie crust and have links to all my favorite products that I use!
If making pie crust intimidates you at all, you need to check it out!!
Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Add the shortening and combine with your hands (or a pastry cutter) until coarse crumbs form. After the shortening is fully incorporated, add the cold chunks of butter and work them into the dough until you get pea sized crumbs.
Add in the cold water and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
Take the formed ball of dough and separate into 2 equal sections and shape into slightly flattened disks (you can keep it all together but I find it's easiest to work with only half the dough at a time). Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to roll out.
How to Assemble the Hand Pies
Note: I like to work with half the dough at a time. So make half of the hand pies then let those chill in the fridge while you make the other half. Then the second batch can chill in the fridge while the first batch is baking.
Once both the dough and cranberry filling are chilled, preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (you may need a second baking sheet).
Lightly flour your work surface and roll out dough to about ¼ inch thick. Use a 3 ½ inch biscuit cutter* to cut out circles of dough (re-roll the scraps 1 time). You should end up with 20-24 circles (10-12 if you're working with half the dough).
*I use a 3 ½ inch biscuit cutter to cut the hand pie circles, but you could make them in a variety of shapes! Almost any shape of cookie cutter will work, just make sure there's at least 3 inches
Cut a small X into the top of half of the circles. On the other half, spoon about 1 tablespoon of the cranberry filling.
Don't overfill the hand pies! It's tempting to just load them up with tangy cranberry sauce, but you want to leave at least ½ inch around the edges so that you can get a good seal.
Lightly brush egg wash around the outside edge of each circle, then top with the remaining circles, egg was side down. Press the edges together and then seal by crimping the edges with a fork.
Place the hand pies in the fridge to chill 15 minutes before baking.
Remove from the fridge and light brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado or sparkling sugar.
Bake at 400°F for 18-22 minutes or until the hand pies are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
These cranberry hand pies are delicious on their own, but they're also great with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!
Tips for Flaky Pastries
Use cold ingredients! For most baked goods you want to use room temperature ingredients, but for flaky pastries (like scones, biscuits, or pie crust) the ingredients need to be very cold! Keep any butter, eggs, milk, etc. in the fridge until right before you need to use them!
Chill before baking! Chilling the dough for at least 15-20 minutes before baking helps ensure the butter in the dough is nice and cold and helps the pastries hold their shape. Cold dough + hot oven = perfect flaky pastry!
Don't overwork the dough! You want to mix the ingredients until just combined so that there are still distinct pieces of butter in the dough. This is what gives you those buttery, flaky, air pockets!
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping certain baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature. Some ovens also take longer than the standard "preheat" time to actually come up to the proper temperature.
Recipe Notes
Since both the pie dough and cranberry filling have to chill, I recommend making them the night before you want to assemble the hand pies. Then the next day you just have to roll out the dough, assemble, and bake!
Both the dough and the cranberry filling can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge before assembling the hand pies.
Store the baked hand pies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Cranberry Hand Pies
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cold & cut into cubes
- 2 cups pastry flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- ¼ cup water, cold
Cranberry Filling
- 1 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Topping
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
- sparkling sugar, optional
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Note: check out my post all about how to make perfect pie crust for more tips and tricks!
- Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Add the shortening and combine with your hands (or a pastry cutter) until coarse crumbs form. After the shortening is fully incorporated, add the cold chunks of butter and work them into the dough until you get pea sized crumbs.
- Add in the cold water and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
- Take the formed ball of dough and separate into 2 equal sections and shape into slightly flattened disks (you can keep it all together but I find it's easiest to work with only half the dough at a time). Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to roll out.
Cranberry Filling
- If you have leftover cranberry sauce from the holidays, you can just use that instead!
- While the dough is chilling, make the cranberry filling.
- Add all of the filling ingredients to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the cranberries begin to split open. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Remove the cinnamon stick, then transfer to a bowl and chill until ready to use.
- Make sure the filling is completely chilled before assembling the hand pies.
Hand Pie Assembly
- Note: I like to work with half the dough at a time. So make half of the hand pies then let those chill in the fridge while you make the other half. Then the second batch can chill in the fridge while the first batch is baking.
- Once both the dough and cranberry filling are chilled, preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (you may need a second baking sheet).
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out dough to about ¼ inch thick. Use a 3 ½ inch biscuit cutter to cut out circles of dough (re-roll the scraps 1 time). You should end up with 20-24 circles (10-12 if you're working with half the dough).
- Lightly brush egg wash around the outside edge of each circle. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of cranberry filling into the center of half the circles then top with the remaining circles, egg was side down. Press the edges together and then seal by crimping the edges with a fork. Using a sharp knife, cut a small X in the top of each hand pie.
- Place the hand pies in the fridge to chill 15 minutes before baking.
- Remove from the fridge and light brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar.
- Bake at 400°F for 18-22 minutes or until the hand pies are golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Browse more pie recipes →
jackie says
These were amazing. The crust was wonderful, and the filling was perfect.
Mel says
Soooo good , made these at christmas time and me and my boyfriend literallt scoffed the lot haha. No one else even got to try it! Cant wait to make these again. Thank you!!! X
Fathima says
This recipe was absolutely delicious! My dad loved they so very much and he even said they tasted a lot like the ones he’d had in France. Thank you Kyleigh for such a wonderful recipe and for making our day! 🙂
Mama Maggie's Kitchen says
My mouth is literally watering. My family would love this..
Leslie says
Gorgeous hand pie recipe!!! These are so perfect!
Sabrina says
I love cranberries and this is a great recipe for them, thanks!
Chef Dennis says
These cranberry hand pies are mouthwatering! My wife loved them.
Meesha says
Omg they are adorable! Love how detailed the instructions is , it is really helpful!
Jill says
These look just perfect! The flavors are so holiday and love that its not too sweet!
Ksenia Prints says
These are so cute and appealing! I love the simplicity and the beautiful photography.
Christina says
These were SO good!
Raquel says
The perfect dessert for the holidays! Making these for.a tea party!
Chloe says
These little pies are so sweet- great instructions!
Kaka says
Love these little hand pies! Yours instructions are easy to follow’ that made it so convenient’ thank you so much!
FOODHEAL says
I love these individual pies, they are easy and simple, not challenging to make like a whole pie.