Fresh Peach Hand Pies

Peach Hand Pies are a must make dessert every summer.  When the peaches are at their ripe,  juicy best, this hand pie recipe gets a workout. That’s because the peach pie filling recipe uses brown sugar and bourbon for a deeply Southern flavor.  The food processor pie crust turns out a flaky, tender dough and the easy bourbon glaze takes these treats to the next level. They’re summer dessert perfection. 

This post, originally published in 2016, has been updated for content.

Food Processor Pie Crust

Look, I love the convenience and predictability of a good Pillsbury pie crust, but for any hand pie recipe, you really need to make it from scratch. Why? Because hand pies are 75% crust.  Think about it. A traditional fruit pie usually has a 2:1 ratio of fruit filling to crust. Not so with hand pies. It’s primarily pastry — so it had better be good. This food processor pie crust is reliable and easy to make in less than 10 minutes.

Tips For Making Easy Food Processor Pie Crust

• Use ice cold butter and shortening. Fat is what makes pie dough flaky. As the crust bakes the fat releases steam and forms layers between the dough — hence flaky pastry. 
• When pulsing the ingredients together, stop when the butter and shortening are  about the size of peas. 
• Add just enough ice water until the dough holds together when you pinch it with your fingers.
• Be careful not to overwork the pastry.

Chilling/Resting Food Processor Pie Crust

• Transfer the dough to a bowl and form it into a ball, but do it quickly. The less time your warm hands actually touch the dough, the better because warm hands will melt the fat and can make the pastry less flaky.
• Cut the ball of dough in half  and pat them into two roughly equal sized discs. 
• Wrap the discs in plastic wrap  and refrigerate for one hour.
• The refrigeration and resting will give the pie crust a chance to firm the butter back up before forming the peach hand pies.

My Favorite Peach For Peach Hand Pies

Depending on where you live will determine the type of peaches you’ll use. My favorite are freestone peaches because they are so easy to peel, practically shrugging off their skins for me. My least favorite, in terms of preparation, are cling peaches — the skins literally CLING like cement to the fruit and the only way I can get it off is with a vegetable peeler, making them feel more like a potato than a juicy, ripe peach. If you can find them, get the freestone peaches for this peach pie filling recipe — it’ll just make your life a little easier.

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Making  Easy Bourbon Peach Pie Filling Recipe

• Peel and chop the peaches into a medium dice.
• Add the peaches, brown sugar and bourbon  to a saucepan and heat to a boiling.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved.
• Add  the arrowroot powder and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Assembling Peach Hand Pies

1. When the food processor pie crust is chilled and the peach pie filling recipe is at room temperature, start assembling the hand pies.
2. Remove one pastry disc from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface into the shape of a rectangle, about  10 1/2″ wide by 15″ long. 
3. Use a pizza cutter to trim the rough ends and put the scraps in the refrigerator to chill (you may need them later). 
4. Cut the pastry into 6 equal rectangles 3 1/2″ x 5″ with the pizza cutter.
5. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the peach pie filling onto each rectangle of dough.

Folding and Baking The Pies

1. Use a pastry brush to dab the perimeter of the pie dough cutouts with egg wash and fold one half of the pastry over the filling. Seal the edges with the tines of a fork.
2. Continue with the rest of the hand pies and transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Cut 2 vents with a sharp knife in the tops of the peach hand pies.
4. Brush the tops of the pie crusts with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
5. Bake until golden and flaky.

This is optional, but come on, it’s only two ingredients AND it’s a bourbon glaze. YOU WANT THIS.

2-Ingredient Bourbon Glaze

• Combine the bourbon with powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. 
• You can make the bourbon glaze while the peach hand pies are baking, but make sure the pies have cooled before drizzling on the glaze.

 If you want a taste of summer, these peach hand pies with bourbon glaze deliver! They are amazingly tender, not overly sweet and utterly addictive. In fact, my daughter was so smitten, that she didn’t have any words until she’d finished her second pie. Fair warning!

More Peach Pie Recipes:

• Fresh Peach Pie with Lattice Crust
• Peach Blueberry Pie

More Peach Recipes:

• Fresh Peach and Bourbon Sour
• Peach Melba Sangria
• Crispy Pork Cutlets with Fresh Peach Salsa
• Sweet Peach and Nilla Ice Cream
• Peach Yogurt Panna Cotta
• Peach Praline Scones

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Peach Bourbon Brown Sugar Hand Pies

These peach hand pies with bourbon glaze are a great summer dessert. Make the homemade pastry crust in the food processor and fill pockets of dough with fresh peach filling. The bourbon glaze sends them over the top.

Author: Lisa Lotts

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword bourbon, peach, pie

Dietary Restrictions Vegetarian

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours

Servings 12

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE PASTRY DOUGH

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 sticks unsalted butter 1 cup, cut into half inch pieces — very cold
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening like Crisco, very cold
• 5-8 tablespoons ice water

FOR THE PEACH BOURBON FILLING

• 4 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and diced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 ½ tablespoons bourbon divided
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder (if you don’t have arrowroot powder you can mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of the bourbon and stir it in at the end of the cooking until it thickens.).

FOR SEALING AND FINISHING THE HAND PIES

• 1 egg lightly beaten
• ¼ cup cream
• ¼ cup demerara or sparkling sugar

FOR THE BOURBON GLAZE

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons bourbon or cream — bourbon adds flavor, cream makes it sweeter – your choice!

DIRECTIONS:

MAKE THE FOOD PROCESSOR PIE DOUGH

• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening and pulse in short bursts, 15 to 20 times until the shortening is cut into the flour and is no bigger than small peas. Add 3 tablespoons of ice water and pulse 5-6 times. Add 2 more tablespoons and pulse 2-3 times. Start to check the consistency of the dough, it should hold together when you pinch it between two fingers without being overly crumbly. Add ice water a little at a time, pulsing 2-3 times after each addition until you achieve the consistency of crumbly Play Doh. Transfer the dough into a large bowl and use your hands to form it into a ball. Cut the dough in half, form into two balls and flatten each into a 8″ disc. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

MAKE THE PEACH PIE FILLING

• In a medium saucepan combine the peaches, brown sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons bourbon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the arrowroot powder and stir until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of bourbon and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350°

ROLL OUT & CUT THE PASTRY

• Generously flour a work surface. Cut one of the discs in half lengthwise and return the rest to the refrigerator. Flour a rolling pin and lightly dust the top of the dough with flour. Roll out the pastry so that it’s generally in the form of a rectangle and about 1/4″ thick. Trim the rough edges and cut the pastry with a pizza cutter into 3 1/2″ x 5″ even rectangles. Use a ruler to measure them and score with the pizza cutter so you know where to slice. Refrigerate the trimmings so that you can roll out additional rectangles when you’ve gone through the two discs.

FILL AND BAKE THE HAND PIES

• Spoon a generous tablespoon of filling into the center of the dough. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash along the edges of the pastry. Fold the dough over onto itself and seal the edges by pressing a fork along the sides. Transfer the pie to the baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut a few vents about 1/2″ long. Brush the pies with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180° and continue to bake for an additional 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Continue with remaining pies.

MAKE BOURBON GLAZE

• While pies cool, mix powdered sugar and add bourbon (or cream) in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle the pies with the glaze and let dry about 15 minutes. Serve.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 378kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 109mg | Potassium: 61mg | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 565IU | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1.6mg

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