Ginger Peach Hand Pies

You know how sometimes you wish for something, and then that wish comes true, but not exactly the way you had envisioned? Maybe you're like me, and you wished you could have a nice summer break, a staycation, during which you could visit friends, do some more city exploring, perhaps a few days at the beach. But what you got instead is mandated stay at home time while you wait for your international background check to clear before you can start your new gig in Baltimore. Which will hopefully clear soon because that ding-dong money tree I've been trying for still hasn't sprouted.

The one good thing about this time is I can finally play with recipes that I've been putting off because it's either too time consuming, too complicated, or makes too much of a mess to clean up on a weeknight. I can finally make hand pies!

Again unable to resist the ever-ripening mountains of peaches at the market, I decided to try a tangy element with these pies. Minced ginger has a nice tang that lends itself to either sweet or savory dishes, and compliments the juicy sweetness of these yellow peaches.

 

I tried a different crust from Vegan Pie in the Sky this time around, the Puffy Pie Dough, which came together pretty easily, and is probably less stressful to work with than a pure (vegan)butter dough. (But I still put my roller in the freezer -- work cold, work fast!) But it also doesn't make enough dough for the amount of filling I got, which ended up being close to 3 or 4 cups. Whatever kind of dough you use, make sure you roll it a smidge thicker than you would for a regular pie -- these peaches are juicy and you don't want all that peachy goodness to go anywhere but in your mouth!

Ginger Peach Hand Pies

Puffy Pie Dough from Vegan Pie in the Sky

Dough

2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

3 TBSP sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ c. cold Earth Balance margarine

½ c. cold plain soy yogurt (I used Greek Style So Delicious brand)

¼ c. cold almond milk

Filling

5-6 medium sized peaches
2 TBSP corn starch
1½  TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP sugar

1-1½ tsp freshly grated ginger

dash allspice
Pinch salt
2 TBSP flour

¼ c. almond milk
turbanado sugar for sprinkling

For the dough:

In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter if you have one, or your fingers. I got mine for a few bucks at a flea market. Because you need to mix in the yogurt with a spatula, I nixed the food processor so that I would have one less thing to clean.

Add half the yogurt, mix with a large sturdy spatula, and then add the rest of the yogurt. Add the almond milk and mix as best you can. The dough will still be clumpy and crumbly, but it comes together nicely when you turn it onto your rolling surface and knead it a bit. It will form a stiff dough.

For the filling:

Score, blanch, and peel the peaches. Dice into smallish pieces and combine with corn starch, lemon juice, sugar, ginger, allspice, salt, and flour in a medium sized bowl. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Pie assembly:

Put parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet, and get yourself a small glass of cold water. Roll out your chilled dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Using an over-turned bowl or glass, cut out as many round pieces of dough as you can (my bowl is  5½ inches in diameter). Chill any remaining scrapes as you work.

Scoop a scant ¼ c. of filling into the center of each circle. Dip your fingers in the water and gently brush your fingers around the edge of half the circle. Carefully pull the opposite side over the filling, sealing the edges. Use a fork to crimp the edges, cut three steam slits in the top of the pie, and then place the pie on your baking sheet. Repeat until you’re out of dough or filling, but make sure to chill any remaining dough when you’re not using it!

Brush each pie with almond milk and sprinkle with turbanado sugar. Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes, or until the dough is golden. Let cool at room temperature and then store in airtight container in the fridge.

 I am now of the opinion that hand pies are the perfect summer dessert. No plates, no forks, no mess to clean up! Which means you can spend extra time enjoying summertime things, like peach pie.