These Strawberry Cream Cheese Hand Pies are heart shaped with a heavenly cream cheese filling. An easy strawberry pastry recipe for Valentine's Day or any occasion!
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Ingredients
Strawberry Filling
1 ½cupsstrawberries hulled and quartered (fresh or frozen)
¼cupgranulated sugar
2teaspoonsfresh lemon juice
1 ½teaspoonscorn starch
Cream Cheese Filling
4ouncescream cheese room temperature
1largeegg yolk
½teaspoonpure vanilla extract
1teaspoonfresh lemon zest
pinch of salt
Crust
1package refrigerated pie crust (2 count) or 2 homemade 9-inch pie crusts
1largeegg white
1tablespooncoarse (raw sugar) or granulated sugarfor sprinkling
Instructions
For the strawberry filling
Bring the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch to a gentle simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. After about 5 minutes the strawberries should be soft enough to smash with your spoon or a potato masher.
Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until thickened. Transfer the strawberry filling to a bowl and let cool completely.
For the cream cheese filling
In a separate small bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt with a hand mixer until smooth and well combined. Set aside while you prepare the pie crust.
For the crust
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Unroll the pie crust onto a lightly floured work surface. Lightly roll the crusts with a rolling pin to remove any creases.
Use a 3 ½” heart cookie cutter to cut 10 hearts from each pie crust. You may need to re-roll the pie dough once to get all 10 pieces.
Cut a small ‘X’ into 10 of the hearts to create a vent for the pies. These pieces will be the top crust for the pies. Place the unvented pie crust (solid bottoms) onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.
Assembly
Place a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese filling onto the unvented (solid) pie crusts leaving a small border.
Top the cream cheese with a heaping tablespoon of the strawberry filling.
Brush the border around the filling with the egg white and place the vented pie crust on top. Press the edges together to seal the pie, then crimp the edges with a fork.
Place the assembled pies on the baking pans into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
While the pies are chilling, preheat the oven to 400° F.
Brush the top of the chilled pies with the egg white and sprinkle with raw sugar if using.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow the pies to cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before enjoying them.
Notes
The exact yield may vary depending on the size of your cutter. If using a cutter smaller than 3 ½” the pies will take less time to bake. Start checking on the pies around 12 minutes..
Do not overfill the pies. Depending on the shape of the cutter you use there may be a small amount of filling left over.
Ensure the strawberry jam has cooled completely before assembling the pies.
Be sure to chill the assembled pies. Chilling the pies helps the filling firm up and minimizes the risk of it leaking during baking.