Summer Berry Hand Pies
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It’s easy to idealize farm life. Especially in the fleeting moments where the kids are barefoot and smiling, the old baskets are filled with summer berries, and butterflies dance around the flower beds. Trust me, I get it. And those moments, bless them, are what carry me through the less than ideal pieces of farm life. Take the general level of dirt, for example. Or moments spent harvesting from the veg patch, with itchy arms and sweat dripping down my chest. Summer is a mixed bag of sunsets and garden bounty, bug bites and sunburnt plants, pond swimming and bike rides. It is everything that we work for and our most challenging season, all rolled into a few glorious months.
In the comfort of an air conditioned home, it can be very easy to miss summer entirely. It’s moderate here. Enjoyable, even. Out there, when it hovers over 90 degrees for months on end, it’s… well, messier. Weeds go unchecked, flowers self seed wherever they please, flies take over the skies, and grass withers in the dry climate. It takes effort to open the door, step out from the cool protection of home, and venture out into the land of mosquitos, thistles, and harvest.
But we do it anyway. Because we’re sturdier than some summer heat and itchy legs. And because we know what awaits us outside the walls of comfort. The payoff for the effort, today, was berry baskets full of mulberries, raspberries, and currants.
And as always, I find effort leading to inspiration.
Today, I’m making a PopTart knock off that’s one billion times better than an actual PopTart- summer berry hand pies.
summer berry Hand Pies
From The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community
400 grams all purpose einkorn flour
Sea salt
225 grams cold butter
1 cup jam of choice
1 egg, beaten
Add the flour and a large pinch of sea salt into a food processor. Roughly chop the butter and add it into the food processor. Pulse the mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
Add in 5-7 tablespoons of ice cold water, until the dough is just combined and clumps together. Remove the dough from the food processor, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Generously flour a work surface. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Roll into a 24” x 28” rectangle, taking care to flour the work surface so that the dough doesn’t stick.
Cut the rectangle into a dozen equal pieces.
Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of jam into the center of each square. Working with one square at a time, fold the dough over the jam and use a fork to seal the edges of the hand pie. Transfer to a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining pies.
Using a pastry brush, gently brush the top of the hand pie with the egg.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.
Cheers,
Shaye