Fresh Lemon Hand Pies

My mother made the best ever lemon meringue pie, it's one of my all-time favorites. Every time she made it I was like, "is it cool enough to cut yet mom".

Anyone else in the house was lucky enough to get a slice with me around. Today I'm reviewing how easy it is to enjoy that lemony taste that brings back some wonderful childhood memories.

Hand pies are so easy to make with store-bought pie crust and lemon filling, or any fruit filling for that matter. This perfect snack or dessert could be ready in 40 minutes or less.

Every year my cousin sends me these giant lemons for his backyard in Arizona. This weekend I decided to make homemade fresh lemon hand pies. The first thing that I did was make the lemon filling.

Lemon curd is really so easy to make. I made this and refrigerated it overnight, but you can make this and let cool for a couple of hours and use it for whatever your making.

Lemon curd is so versatile it can be used for cakes, cupcakes, donuts, or spread it on top of a scone of crackers.

Fresh Lemon Hand Pies Ingredients (Lemon Curd)

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (4 to 5 lemons)

zest of 2 lemons

5 large egg yolks

1/2 cup salted butter (Cold)

Instructions

1. You will need a double boiler for this, add some water and bring it to a boil.
2.  Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks, continue to stir.
3. Add the zest of the lemons and the lemon juice. Continue to stir the mixture for about 10 minutes, it will begin to thicken.
4.  After 10 minutes remove the mixture from the heat, and add the butter one tablespoon at a time.
5. Continue stirring, the mixture will become nice and thick. Once all the butter is melted into the mixture pour it into a bowl and let it cool for 2 to 3 hours before using it.

Pie crust ingredients

2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Crisco (Cold)

6 to 8 tablespoons of Ice Water

1. Cut the Crisco into smaller pieces
2. Add flour and Crisco into a mixing bowl
3. Mix until Crisco begins to fold into the flour
4. Add ice-cold water one tablespoon at a time 
5. Mix until a ball of dough forms

Divide the pie crust into two equal parts wrap each with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about a half-hour. I used my KitchenAid Stand Mixer to make the pie crust.

Now, it's time to assemble and bake these little sweet treats. I rolled each ball of the pie crust out to about a 10-inch circle between two sheets of parchment paper.

Tip: Lay the parchment paper or wax paper on a kitchen towel. This prevents it from moving all over the counter while rolling.

Cut the crust with a 4-inch cookie cutter, place a tablespoon of the lemon curd in the middle. Then, fold them over and pinch the edges together. Press a fork around the edges to seal.

Poke the middle of each hand pie with a fork. I made 12 hand pies, six out of each half of the crust. You will have to re-roll some of the crust to get the other 2 out of each half.

Now you will need two egg whites and a couple tablespoons of sugar. Beat the egg whites in a small bowl.

 Brush the hand pies with the beaten egg whites and sprinkle the sugar over the top. Or you could skip the sugar and dust them with powdered sugar right out of the oven.

Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. Set them on a rack to cool and enjoy.

You might enjoy some of my other fresh lemon recipes

Easy Lemon BrowniesGlazed Lemon Almond BiscottiQuick Easy Lemon Bars

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