These tender-crusted little pies are filled with orange-scented cranberries.
Ingredients
Makes 16 servings
Dough:
Filling and assembly:
Special Equipment
For dough:
Step 1
Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal (no big pieces of butter should remain). With motor running, slowly drizzle 1/2 cup ice water through feed tube. Pulse until dough just begins to come together.
Step 2
Divide dough in half. Form each half into a ball; flatten into disks. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD:Dough can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes to soften slightly before rolling out.
For filling and assembly:
Step 3
Combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest and juice, and tapioca in a medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Let stand for juices to accumulate, about 10 minutes, then cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer and begins to thicken, 5-6 minutes. (Some cranberries will have burst.) Let cool completely. DO AHEAD:Cranberry filling can be made 5 days ahead. Cover and chill.
Step 4
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until very thin, about 1/16" thick. Using cookie cutter, cut out 16 circles.
Step 5
Brush edges of 8 circles with beaten egg. Place 1 heaping tablespoon filling in center of each egg-washed circle. Top with remaining circles to form 8 pies. Using a fork, crimp 1/4" around edges to seal. If desired, use cookie cutter to clean edges. Repeat with remaining dough, egg, and filling.
Step 6
Divide pies between prepared sheets; chill for 45 minutes. DO AHEAD:Pies can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover; keep chilled.
Step 7
Preheat oven to 425°F. Working with 1 baking sheet of pies at a time, score dough, forming a small X in the center of each pie. Brush tops of pies with beaten egg and sprinkle with raw sugar.
Step 8
Bake pies until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles out of Xs, 17-20 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining baking sheet of pies.
Leave a Review
Reviews (8)
Back to TopI made this recipe a few years ago and it was very well received - planning on making it for Thanksgiving again this year. I especially like that you can make the dough and filling ahead of time and assemble/bake the day of. To the reviewer below, Rita, the cookie cutter size is listed under Ingredients: Special equipment: A 3"-diameter cookie cutter or biscuit cutter.
magduhlena
Chicago, IL
11/10/2016
There is one important element missing from this recipe: what size cookie cutter to use! Pie-size determines distribution of filling and even with the dimensions of the rolled-out pastry, the size of the pies would be very helpful. Ridiculous omission.
ritacooks4u
Victoria, BC
10/8/2016
These are awesome, I made them with the cranberry filling and used the dough to make hand pies with other fillings, )leaving the orange out for the other flavors.) My food processor is not big enough to do the whole batch at once, so I halved it and did the flour/butter/etc. in two batches, put them both in a big bowl and worked the water in by hand. I must have rolled them out much thinner, as I got 36 out of my dough. Chilling it overnight is helpful. This will be a new holiday tradition for sure, and plan to make strawberry rhubarb ones this summer!
geskydiver13
Minneapolis MN
12/22/2015
This filling was incredible but i didnt make the crust from scratch so i cannot ethically give it four stars. ha. If you use store bought crust, buy two packages because there is enough filling for that. Each round of pie dough yielded 4 pies.
lekaty
11/25/2014
I must defend this recipe! After reading the reviews about the dough and being a not-so-great baker myself, I was on guard. I followed the recipe very carefully and made sure I didn't add too much water and to my astonishment the dough was perfect. The only thing I did differently was I used bread flour instead of all-purpose just because I was all out. Maybe that made everything come together better? I'm still not an expert on the chemistry of bread flour... I just use it for bread. In any case, this entire recipe is awesome. The hand pies were delicious and everyone gobbled them up. Definitely will make these again. People always like their own personal pie.
littledumpling
Los Angeles
11/25/2012
I'm used to more accurately-written/tested dessert recipes from BA. You'll need a giant food processor, not a regular-sized home kitchen one to manage 3+ sticks of butter, and 3+ c of flour at once. Next time, I'll work the dough by hand. I needed about a 1/4 c of water (not 1/2 c) to pull the dough together. I found the dough very easy to roll out and work with - kept in frig overnight, and took out for 15 minutes before rolling. The filling was more tart than I would have expected. Dough yielded 22 pies, not 16, and I didn't roll out scraps.
Anonymous
Salt Lake City
11/17/2012
I loved this recipe. The dough is more difficult to work with compared to a regular pie crust because it has so much sugar. I added only the barest amount of water - just get it to pull together- it rolled out fine. And, it crimped together better than regular pie crust. The sweet dough works so nicely with the tart filling too. I didn't want to do orange though- I mixed in a big spoonful of chunky homemade applesauce instead.
rharmstrong
Madison, WI
11/10/2012
The dough is extremely difficult to work with; as soon as it is rolled out, it is too soft to pick up. I think it would work if made in a refrigrated kitchen whose temperature is 45 degrees (normal room temp warms up the dough too much). To get the pies formed, I had to re- refrigerate the dough for 2 hours, then tear off very small pieces of the refrigerated dough (leaving the rest in the refrigerator), rolling out enough for just two circles at a time, and quickly assembling the pies one at a time. The filling is tasty. I wish I had used my regular pie crust recipe--that's what I will do if I ever make this again
Anonymous
El Segundo, CA
11/5/2012
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