Blueberry Hand Pies

We realized that visiting our favorite Alstede Farms for berry picking would be a relatively safe activity during the pandemic since it's completely outdoors and extremely easy to maintain social distance.  We had a great time and wound up with a pretty awesome haul of blueberries.

Mel remembered that we had a box of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry in our freezer, so we thought it'd be cool to attempt some sort of blueberry bake.  A quick Google search yielded this super easy recipe for Blueberry Hand Pies from The Food Network.  

(cutting and pasting all the details verbatim below in case the link ever breaks; they also include steps for making a glaze but we skipped that because we wanted the sweet focus to be on our berries)

Ingredients

Filling

• 3 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch 
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest plus juice of 1/2 lemon 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Pastry

• 3 sheets frozen puff pastry (from two 17.3-ounce packages, such as Pepperidge Farm), thawed
• 1 large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water

Directions

"For the filling: Combine the blueberries and granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar is melted and the berries have started to burst, a few minutes. Stir together the cornstarch and lemon juice in a small bowl until combined, then add to the blueberry mixture. Add the lemon zest and vanilla and continue to cook until glossy and thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use." 

We definitely messed this part up.  Mel put everything to simmer in the pot beautifully, but then got distracted and let it simmer too long.  So the fruit wound up breaking down a bit too much, making it a tad runny to be a filling.  Lesson learned.  But we didn't want the berries to go to waste, so we continued knowing full well that our pastry might wind up with the dreaded "soggy bottom." 

(#GBBO #WhatWouldMaryDo #NoHandshakeFromPaulHere)

"For the pastry: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

To make the pies: Unfold the thawed pastry and roll out to 10-inch squares if necessary. Cut each square in quarters, making four 5-inch squares from each. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons of cooled filling onto one corner of each square. Brush around the squares with the egg wash. Fold the pasty over the filling on each to make a triangle, pressing lightly to remove any air pockets. Crimp the edges shut with a fork. Put the pies on the prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack set over a baking sheet."

Clearly this part got messy because of our runny filling.  But we figured... can you ever really go terribly wrong with yummy sweet fruit and flaky pastry?  We knew these may not turn out pretty, but they'd likely be delish so we persisted.

Annnnnd... our hunch was right.  Definitely not blue ribbon worthy... bursting at the seams and caught on a few edges.  BUT - SUPER YUMMY!   And we wanted to be sure to blog about it because this recipe is a quick, easy way to make the most of our trips to the farm.