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Made with shortcrust pastry and filled with a mixture of fresh peaches, fresh blueberries, chopped walnuts, brown sugar, and spices, these peach hand pies with blueberries and walnuts are the best peach hand pie recipe for summer!
Why Peach Hand Pies?
Not much compares to the taste and texture of perfectly ripe, sweet, juicy peach. (Canned or frozen will work in a pinch, but when it comes to peaches, there is absolutely nothing like the real thing.) Because peaches peak in the summer months, I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase their sweet, juicy goodness.
In this peach hand pie recipe with blueberries and walnuts, I’ve tossed diced fresh peaches with brown sugar, spices, vanilla, lemon, and cornflour. After allowing the fruit to macerate, I’ve spooned it onto discs of shortcrust pastry. Then, I’ve sealed the edges, brushed each pie with egg wash, and sprinkled on some crunchy Demerara sugar. The final step? Baking the pies until they’re deeply golden brown, with just the right amount of fruit juice bubbling from the top of each pie.
These individually-portioned hand peach pies are easy to put together. They are made with store-bought shortcrust (sold as pie crusts, in the US) so no messing around with making your own pie dough, although do feel free to start from scratch if you’re feeling particularly ambitious!
As a bonus, many of the other ingredients—brown sugar, cinnamon, lemons, egg, vanilla—are things you probably already have on hand. (Side note: If you don’t keep cardamom in your spice cabinet, now is a good time to purchase some! It’s one of my go-to spices for baking.)
A Peach Hand Pie Recipe for Peach Season
August also happens to be National Peach Month, so now is the perfect time to make this recipe. If you can, try to visit a greenmarket, farmer’s market, or local orchard for top-quality peaches, as supermarket selections are often hit-or-miss (see my notes on ripening supermarket peaches, below).
These hand pies are best enjoyed on the day they are made, especially if they’re still slightly warm. (Not piping hot, the fruit will burn your tongue!) These are lovely for breakfast, and would make a nice dessert, too. Try topping each pie with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream for the quintessential end-of-summer treat.
Ripening the Peaches
When I went to my local grocery store to buy ingredients for these hand pies, I found that none of the peaches they had available were anywhere close to ripe. Had I allowed the peaches to ripen at their own speed, I would’ve been waiting for a couple of days.
I wanted to bake these hand peach pies before then, so I used one of my favorite kitchen “hacks,” placing the peaches in a brown paper shopping bag overnight:
By morning, they were perfectly ripe and ready to go!
Choosing a Round Cutter
I tested this peach hand pie recipe with several different cutters, and found that a 3.75-inch round cutter worked best. You could also use a 3.5-inch or 4-inch cutter, depending on what you happen to have on hand. Try not to go much smaller than 3.5 inches, though, or you won’t have enough room for the fruit filling.
If you don’t own a set of round metal disc cutters, now would be a great time to order some. These are an absolute essential in my baking toolkit (I have squares as well) and are useful for a range of tasks, from cutting pie and biscuit dough to reshaping cookies post-bake. I’ll often use my round cutters to make fondant shapes or for tracing templates onto parchment, too.
Note that depending on the size of the cutter you choose and the dimensions of your shortcrust pastry sheets (every brand is different) you might end up with nine or eleven hand pies instead of ten. That’s totally fine! Just divide the fruit mixture evenly between each portion. This is meant to be a rustic recipe, so there is some room for flexibility.
Peach Hand Pie Tips and Tricks
After baking, you can allow the peach hand pies to cool on the baking tray for about five minutes, but don’t cool them completely on the tray. Cooling on the tray will cause the bottoms of the pies to become soggy. Instead, use a spatula to transfer the pies to a wire cooling rack.
I like to use a silicone rolling mat when working with shortcrust or puff pastry. It makes for easier cleanup, and I don’t have to worry about dusting the countertop with flour. If you don’t have one, you can flour your countertop or work on top of a sheet of baking parchment instead.
If you don’t like blueberries, feel free to substitute blackberries in the fruit mixture. Pecans can also substitute for the walnuts, or you can omit the nuts from the recipe entirely.
When applying egg wash, I prefer to use a pastry brush with natural bristles (rather than silicone) for easier, more precise application.
In the US, cornflour is known as cornstarch (a.k.a., you’re looking for this, not this!)
More fruit hand pie recipes you might enjoy:
Peach and Ginger Hand Pies
Blueberry Hand Pies
Cherry-Apple Hand Pies
Apple Turnovers
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
Peach Hand Pies with Blueberries and Walnuts
- Total Time: 70 minutes
- Yield: 10 3.5-inch round hand pies 1x
Description
Miniature pies made with shortcrust pastry and filled with a mixture of peaches, blueberries, walnuts, cinnamon, cardamom, and brown sugar. The perfect end-of-summer treat!
Ingredients
Filling:
250 grams diced fresh peaches (1 1/2 cups, or about 3 medium peaches)
45 grams light brown sugar (1/4 cup, packed)
2 teaspoons cornflour/cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
15 milliliters lemon juice (1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon lemon zest, finely zested
60 grams blueberries (1/3 cup)
20 grams chopped walnuts (2 tablespoons)
Hand Pies:
2 sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry or pie crust (each roughly 10 x 14 inches in size)
1 egg, lightly beaten
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400° F / 205° C. Line a rimmed half-sheet baking tray with parchment, and set aside until ready to use.
In a medium bowl, add diced peaches, brown sugar, cornflour, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla bean paste, and salt, and stir until dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Stir in lemon juice and zest. Set aside.
On a silicone rolling mat or lightly floured countertop, unroll one sheet of shortcrust pastry. With a 3.75-inch* round cutter, cut the pastry into discs. Repeat with the second sheet of pastry, then use a rolling pin to re-roll the scraps and cut the remaining discs. When finished, you should have 20 discs total.
Arrange half of the discs on the prepared tray.
Add the blueberries and walnuts to the peach mixture, and stir until nicely incorporated.
Spoon the peach, blueberry, and walnut mixture on top of the discs, allowing a half-inch border around the outside edge. Use all of the mixture, dividing it equally between the ten discs.
With a pastry brush, lightly brush beaten egg around the edges of each disc.
Top each disc with a second disc of pastry, then use your fingers to gently seal the edges.
With a pastry brush, brush the tops of the discs with beaten egg.
Use a fork to crimp the edges of each disc.
With a sharp knife, score the tops of the pies. (Alternately, you can use a fork to gently pierce each pastry 3-4 times.)
Sprinkle each pie with a generous helping of Demerara sugar.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until pies are golden brown with fruit bubbling from the tops of the pastries.
Allow hand pies to cool on the tray** for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Peach, blueberry, and walnut hand pies are best enjoyed on the day they are made, and ideally while still slightly warm. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
Notes
*I tried this recipe with several different cutters, and found that a 3.75-inch cutter worked best. You could also use a 3.5-inch or 4-inch cutter. Try not to go much smaller than 3.5 inches, or you won’t have enough room for the fruit filling.
**Do not allow the pies to cool completely on the tray, or the bottoms of the pies will be soggy.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Turnovers and Hand Pies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Desserts
