HARVEST MOON HAND PIES

Hold the full moon in the palm of your hand with these shallot, fig, and gorgonzola packed pies.

Hand pies are one of my favorite make ahead party items. I make several batches a month ahead of party time and freeze them for reheating as needed. Not only does this help minimize the amount of food prep needed on party day, but it is also a great way to preserve highly seasonal ingredients like figs.

Ingredients for the crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/2 sticks cold, unsalted butter (or 20 Tablespoons)

2-4 Tablespoons ice water

1 egg (for an egg wash)

Ingredients for the filling:

1 cup thinly sliced shallot (from around 5 shallots)

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

4 ounces fresh figs diced

1 ounce dried figs, diced

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 ounce Gorgonzola cheese

Makes approximately 12 pies cut in a 3 inch circle

To make the hand pies:

Start by making the crust. MIx flour and salt together in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into cubes and cut into the flour until it forms pea-sized clumps (this can be achieved by hand with a pastry cutter or fork if you don’t have a food processor). Next, add ice water one tablespoon at a time until dough comes together. Divide dough into two sections, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to overnight.

While the dough is chilling, make the filling. Thinly slice the shallots. Dice the figs. Strip thyme leaves from stems. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat then add the shallots. Cook around 10 minutes or until shallots are golden brown and starting to caramelize. Add balsamic vinegar and stir for one minute scraping any caramelized shallot off the bottom of the pan. Add fresh figs, dry figs, and thyme and cook 2-3 minutes more until fresh figs start to break down. Remove from heat. Season with salt as desired. Crumble in Gorgonzola. Let cool completely.

Remove chilled crust from the refrigerator. Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll out first pastry crust to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out 12 circles rerolling as needed. Lay the circles on a prepared baking sheet. Top with 1 Tablespoon of the fig filling. Roll out second pie crust and cut 12 additional circles. For mine, I also cut a small bat shape out of each crust, but this step is optional. Beat 1 egg with 1 Tablespoon water. Brush the edges of each circle with the egg wash then lay the second circle on top. Use a fork to seal the edges together. I re-stamp with my circle cutter after this step to clean up the edges. Brush the top of each pie with egg wash. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425° F. Remove pies from fridge and uncover. Bake for 25-28 minutes until golden brown.