Here are the cherry hand pies. Next time, I'll make a couple of changes to the process (noted with an asterisk *). That little bit of almond extract was good in the pie filling. These were kind of messy to make but they are tasty.
CHERRY ALMOND HAND PIES
(makes about 20-24 hand pies)
enough dough for 2 double pie crusts (or 2 boxes of refrigerated pie crusts)
1 can (21-oz) cherry pie filling
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1/4 Cup milk (may need more to make the glaze runny)
1 egg white, beaten
1/4 Cup sliced almonds for garnish
1. Pre-heat oven to 425*
2. Dump pie filling into bowl and add almond extract, mix until blended.
3. Roll out dough and cut circles using a 4" biscuit cutter. *
4. Drop 1 Tab cherry pie filling into center of each pie crust circle. Fold in half and pinch edges. Press with fork tines to seal. Poke top of each hand pie to prevent bursting.**
5. Beat egg white with a bit of water until frothy. Brush over the tops of each hand pie. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet, 1" apart, for about 15 minutes, until browned.
6. While pies are baking, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Remove baked pies from baking sheet and drop (while still warm) into glaze, coating it completely. Return to parchment paper and immediately sprinkle with sliced almonds.***
7. Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days.
* My cutter was bigger so recipe made 21 hand pies for me.
** Some of my pies still burst open so next time, I'll use some of that egg white to "glue" the edges together.
*** An easier (and less painful) way of coating the hand pies is to leave them on the parchment covered baking sheet and spoon glaze over them. Trying to pick those things up while they were hot hurts! And if you want to sprinkle almonds over them, you have to do it right away or the glaze won't hold the almonds (DH didn't want almonds on his, so I only did it to a couple of them.)
