Floral Pinch Pies

Another year, another Pi Day in the books. Pie is one of my favorite things to make and there are so many creative things you can do with them, and so many fun flavors out there. I never get tired of it! I wanted to share some floral hand pies I made and show you the steps so you can have fun making your own, perfect for tea parties, Easter, or just spring time fun in general.

Pie Dough

1.5 Pounds of Flour

2.5 Ounces of Granulated Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

2.5 Sticks of Butter

1 Egg

1/2 Tablespoon of White Vinegar

1 1/4 Cup of Ice Cold Water

You can choose whatever pie filling you would like for these little hand pies but for the sake of this Instructable I made mine with my Cardamom Apple Pie Filling. Feel free to use this recipe if you'd like or have fun with your favorite fillings.

Cardamom Apple Pie Filling

1 Pound Green Apple (3 Large Apples roughly)

1/5 Ounces Granulated Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cardamom

1/8 Teaspoon ( I just eyeballed 1/2 of a 1/4 Teaspoon since I don't have anything to measure that.)

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

Egg Wash

2 Eggs

2 Tablespoons of Water

In a mixing bowl, measure out the flour, sugar, and salt for the pie dough. Whisk together until combined.

Next, cut up your butter and add it to the dry ingredient mixture. Use your hands to work in the butter, or if you prefer a food processor works well for this step too.

Make sure the butter has been fully incorporated into pea shaped or smaller clumps.

Measure out your water, egg, and vinegar and whisk these wet ingredients together until fully incorporated.

Create a well in your dry dough mixture and pour the wet ingredient mixture into the well. Gently hand mix these ingredients together until they start to clump into a dough. Careful not to overwork the dough, you want it to stay tender. Only mix until a dough has formed. Not one large dough ball, but just clumping together as seen in the photo.

The dough will combine more when you roll it out.

For the pie filling, core and cut up your apples into small dices, leave the skin on. See photo for reference.

Place your diced applies into a bowl and add the sugar, spices and flour. Stir together until apples are fully coated in the dry mix.

In a smaller bowl, prep up your egg wash by mixing together the two eggs with the 2 Tablespoons of water.

With the filling and egg wash prepped, time to start rolling out your dough. Grab a ball of dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface. 1/4 inch in thickness.

For the first floral design, you will need a large circle cutter.

Cut your rolled out pie dough into circles with the cutter.

Lightly brush the circles with egg wash to help the seals stick together.

Spoon in the filling. Not too much, about a tablespoon but it will depend on the size circle cutter you have as well.

Next, go around the edge of the circle and pinch together individual points, sort of like a star, until sealed all around, with just a hole in the center exposing the filling. See photos for reference.

Take a pair of scissors and cut the tops of the points towards to the center, but leaving it still connected to the center. See photo for reference.

Then take the strand you cut and fold it in half towards the center of the hand pie, sealing the hole and giving it a petal look. Again see photo for reference.

For the second floral design, once again use a circle cutter to cut your pie dough.

Lightly brush the circles with egg wash to help the seals stick together.

Spoon in the filling. Not too much, about a tablespoon but it will depend on the size circle cutter you have as well.

Then grab opposite sides of the circle and pinch them together. Repeat on the other open sides, pinch them together. You will have a wonton looking shape. Pinch together and seal the points. See photos for reference.

Once again, like the previous design, take a pair of scissors and cut the tops of the points towards to the center, but leaving it still connected to the center. See photo for reference.

For this one, you will take the pie dough strands you cut and loop them into the center like a bow instead of folding them. Press them down and repeat until you have a petal, flower shape. See photo for reference.

For the third and final floral design, you will roll out your pie dough and then use a knife to cut into rectangle shapes. Mine were roughly 4 Inches by 6 inches, maybe a bit over that.

Next, take a fork and press into the edges of one side to create a ridged design.

Then take a knife and cut the pressed design dough into strips at least 1 inch or a bit over in thickness.

After you cut the strips, pinch together just the ends of it. See photo for reference.

It will look almost like a fish tail.

After you have done these steps, flip the dough over so that the ridges are facing the work surface.

Next, lightly brush the dough with egg wash to help everything stick together.

Place a spoonful of filling along the uncut edge of the dough.

Roll up the filling towards your cut and pinched edges until the roll is sealed and the flower petals you cut and pinched are on top. See photo's for reference.

Then, shape the dough like a donut, pinching and sealing together the ends. You may need a little bit more egg wash for this part.

After you have created the donut shape you can gently maneuver the petals to make sure they are spread out nicely and covering the seal where you pinched together the dough for the donut shape.

See photo for an already completed look next to one that is being pinched into shape for reference.

Place your floral hand pies onto and lined sheet tray to bake.

Lightly brush each with some egg wash and sprinkle on some granulated sugar over the tops of them.

Bake at 350 Degrees F. for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

There you have it, adorable floral springtime hand pies. Cute and yummy!

Thank you for checking out this Instrutable. Hope you give it a try and share your results.