May 16, 2017
updated
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Sometimes, I get a little over zealous when I purchase fruit. I’m not sure if it’s the vibrant colors that lure me into purchasing more berries than we can eat, but I must admit that I have a weakness for plump and juicy blueberries.
What happens is that I end up tossing them on top of salads, making blueberry pancake syrup, adding them to smoothies, and of course, making blueberry muffins. What else is there to do other than freezing them for later use in order for them to not go to waste? Enter, these lemon blueberry hand pies.
While most blueberry hand pies are small versions of a delicious blueberry pie, these hand pies have a bit of a surprise for you, a slightly tangy flavor and the perfect combination of sweet and savory. Making them is much easier than you think, just watch this quick video to see how quickly they come together.
Wasn’t that easy? What I love is that there is no added sugar to the filling of the recipe. The goat cheese provides a creamy filling that melts in your mouth with the sweet blueberries all the while, from time to time, you catch a hint of the fresh lemon zest.
Sometimes, I make my own pie crust while other times I use up a refrigerated pie crust that is sitting in my fridge from a previous project or recipe. You see, what happens is that I often test my homemade recipes with both a homemade version and a store bought alternative in order to find short cuts or simply find the best yield in both taste and texture to a recipe.
My goal, however, is to try to anticipate your questions and therefore, test things out with more than a substitution or two. If there is something that I’ve learned from creating thousands of recipes for my websites, cookbooks, and magazines is that there will always be someone who wants to substitute an ingredient for another.
Good thing this recipe has three main ingredients! The crust, the goat cheese, and the blueberries! The lemon zest, of course, is added to provide the flavors with a complex contrast and the egg to make the crust shiny.
Other fillings I’ve loved in these hand pies are goat cheese and figs, goat cheese and dried plums, and goat cheese with raspberries. Any way you look at it, these mini hand pies are super easy to make and delicious to eat!
What are your favorite hand pie fillings?
Lemon Blueberry Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 1 package refrigerated pie dough
- 8 ounces soft goat cheese
- 1 pint fresh blueberries
- 1 lemon, for zesting
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
- Coarse sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Pull the refrigerated pie dough out and let it sit on the countertop for about 10 minutes to warm up and become more pliable.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On a floured surface, unroll pie dough and roll out to ¼ inch thick. Using a round biscuit cutter, cut your dough into circles.
- Transfer pie dough circles onto lined baking sheet. In the middle of each circle, scoop a spoonful of goat cheese, a little lemon zest, and a few blueberries. To close empanada, fold pie dough over, and crimp shut on all sides using a fork.
- After all of the empanadas are sealed, place them in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.
- Remove empanadas from fridge and poke a couple of circles with a toothpick on top of each empanada.
- Make an egg wash by whisking together one egg white and one tablespoon of water. Brush each empanada with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven until they’ve cooled down to room temperature.
Isabel
Looks amazing! Can I use cream cheese or something else instead of goat cheese?
Laura Fuentes
Yes, you can definitely use cream cheese.
Dana
My daughter is allergic to eggs. Could I make these without the egg brushed on top?
Laura Fuentes
absolutely!
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Brooke
My family’s favorite pie filling is definitely something with strawberries! We all love really any kind of berries so this will be my next experiment!
Haley
I love the combination of goat cheese and blueberries! So delicious. I would have never thought of that.
Sadhana
What’s the pie dough recipe?