Handheld Pies

Handheld Pies was one of many Christmas cookbooks. The reason I got his book as a present was clearly stated. My friend, Ann believed that she would like to eat some of the handheld pies on the cover. Seemed like a good plan.

The book is fairly straightforward. The twist in the book is that the pies are backed in a small, transportable manner. Little tarts in cupcake tins, cream pies in preserve jars, and tiny little pop tarts. The recipes are familiar, pared down versions of pumpkin pie, cherry pie, coconut cream, lemon meringue and even a chicken potpie in a little pot.

Sarah Billingsly and Rachel Wharton visited a vast array of pie shops from East to West, North to South and offer up a short profile of these shops. The book offers up several crust options including a plain, flaky butter crust and a cornmeal crust. Then there are a series of filling options, like cherry, blueberry, and apple.

Blueberry Filling

3 cups/340 g fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
1/4 cup/50 g sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix gently so as not to crush the berries. Use immediately.

You can pick a crust and make a pie in a jar or little pop tart pies.

As you can see, the recipes are familiar but the deliver provides several cool options for presenting and pie that one might have in their repertoire.