Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies...

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or should I call them pop tarts?

I made these little cuties yesterday. After dinner last night, hubs grabbed one, asking mid-bite what it was he was eating. While I was saying, those are strawberry rhubarb hand pies, he says, "Oh my God those are the best pop tarts EVER."
No matter how much we begged, my mother refused to buy us pop tarts when we were kids. She said they were "all sugar, junk food". Whenever we asked for things like, sugary cereals, pop tarts, pretty much any prepackaged sweet, Mom would say no. She usually followed the "No" with, "You'd be better off eating the cardboard it came in." Don't feel too sorry for me. Mom did not withhold sweets from us. I didn't realize till I was much older that we were quite spoiled, in fact. She baked something from scratch nearly every day. The sweets in my lunch bag were the envy of all those around me at school lunch table! But as a kid, I always assumed my parents were withholding something wonderful, just to torture me.  I think I was in middle school or possibly high school when I ate my first pop tart at a friends home. I remember opening the foil package, thinking, "this is going to be awesome!" Wow, was I disappointed. I didn't even eat the whole thing. Mom was right, I'd have been better off eating the cardboard box it came in.
It didn't occur to me while I was making these hand pies, but they are very similar to a pop tart, sweet pastry with a fruit filling. Cut them out in rectangles and you've got the best pop tart ever!
Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies/Pop Tart
(Printable recipe) 
source: Southern Living May 2011
Yields about 2 dozen

Ingredients:   
For the filling
3/4 cup finely diced fresh strawberries
3/4 cup finely diced rhubarb
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest

For the crust:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup butter, cold
1/4 cup shortening, chilled
3 tablespoons ice-cold water
3 tablespoons orange juice
Parchment paper
1 egg yolk, beaten

Method:
Combine strawberries, rhubarb, cornstarch, 2 Tbsp. sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp. orange zest in a small bowl.

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine flour, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles small peas. Stir in orange zest. Drizzle with ice-cold water and orange juice. Stir with a fork until combined. (Mixture will be crumbly and dry.) Knead mixture lightly, and shape dough into a disk. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Roll half of dough to 1/8-inch thickness on a heavily floured surface.

Cut with a 2 1/4-inch round cutter, rerolling scraps as needed. Place half of dough rounds 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Top with 1 rounded teaspoonful strawberry mixture (Don't overfill or your pies will not stay together). Dampen edges of dough with water, and top with remaining dough rounds, pressing edges to seal. Crimp edges with a fork, and cut a slit in top of each round for steam to escape. Repeat procedure with remaining dough and strawberry mixture.
Stir together egg yolk and cream; brush pies with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar. Freeze pies 10 minutes.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days. 

I know another strawberry/rhubarb recipe. In my defense, they are both in season in Spring and I look forward to strawberries and rhubarb all year! When I saw this recipe in Southern Living I knew I'd be making it as soon as possible. I loved the idea of little pies. Pie filling encased in flaky buttery pie crust. The best part, you can pick it up and take it with you! So much more portable than a regular pie. Perfect for lunch boxes or picnics.

Quince and Apple Pie

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 "A quince for you, a quince for me, quinces we shall eat" Quinces are one the oldest known fruits. They proceed the apple and are believed by many to be the Forbidden Fruit that Eve offered Adam in the Garden of Eden. In Greece, it's known as the fruit of love and plays a part in most wedding celebrations. Quince trees have been grown in Asia and through out the Mediterranean for over 4000 years. Although quinces have been around for centuries, they are a relatively new discovery for me. They have begun to pop up recently in our local markets so I thought I'd give baking with them a try. Who doesn't want to try the "fruit of love"? I mean if it was tempting enough for Adam...

The quince is a relative of both the apple and the pear, but most varieties  cannot be eaten raw. In the raw form, quinces are usually very hard, even when fully ripe, and very astringent. When cooked however, they turn a beautiful rosy color and a have a lovely floral-like flavor. Because quinces naturally contain a high amount of pectin they are often used in jams, jellies, chutneys and marmalades. They are also wonderful to use in baking and can be substituted for apples or pears in most recipes.


I decided I'd poach my quinces and mix them with apples in a pie. I don't think that it's necessary (or possible!) to improve on a classic apple pie, but the quince mixed with the apples was a nice change from the traditional apple pie.  Because they are in season in late Autumn, quinces are a great choice for your Thanksgiving dinner. If you are looking for a little variety this Thanksgiving, consider a quince and apple pie.

 For the pie crust on this pie, I used part white whole wheat flour and part regular all-purpose flour. I also made a crust with some vegetable shortening as well as butter. Because I used the white whole wheat flour, the vegetable shortening helped make the crust a bit more tender, flaky. I also thought the white whole wheat flour gave the crust a slightly nutty taste that was great with the quince.

Quince and Apple Pie 

(Printable Recipe)

Pie Crust
Makes two 9 inch single crust or one 9 inch double crust pie.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour -( I used 1 cup of white wheat flour and 1 1/2 all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup(2 sticks) cold butter, cut in small pieces

1/4 cup shortening- chilled

6 to 8 tablespoons ice cold water

Put the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter and shortening over the dry ingredients and pulse until it is coarsely cut in-you should have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Drizzle the water over the mixture. Using on/off pulses, pulse just until the dough holds together when pinched. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. divide into two equal pieces. Form each piece into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

Prepare the quince:
3 quinces peeled and seeded

2 cups water

1cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean

Quarter the peeled, seeded quinces, and cut into quarter-inch slices. In a heavy bottom pot, combine water and sugar. Split vanilla bean and scrape seeds. Place the vanilla bean and the seeds along with the quince slices in the pot. Poach the quince 15 minutes. Cool, drain and discard the vanilla bean.

Look at the beautiful color the quinces turn when poached!

Assembling the pie:
4 tart/sweet apples (Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, etc..) peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch slices

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 Tbs butter, cut into small pieces

Milk, to brush on the crust. 

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the sugar, flour and nutmeg. Pour the sugar mixture over the apples and quince stir to coat evenly.Add lemon juice, toss to coat.

Roll out one disk of the pastry dough on a floured board into a 14-inch circle. Fold the dough into quarters, center it on the pie plate, unfold and gently pat the dough into the bottom and sides of the plate.

Spoon apple/quince mixture into the pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with butter.
Roll out the second disk into a 14-inch circle. Fold the dough into quarters, center on top of the pie and unfold. Trim, seal and flute the edges.Make slits in the center to vent the pie. Brush the surface of the crust with milk.
Bake until the crust is golden brown and juices bubble, about 45 to 55 minutes.

I made little individual pies. So cute!

They dined on mince and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand on the edge of the sand

They danced by the light of the moon.

~ "The Owl and the Pussycat," by Edward Lear