Spiced Pear Hand Pies

To make the crust, combine the butter, flour, baking powder, salt and 2/3 of the sugar in a food processor with a steel blade and pulse just until it resembles coarse crumbs. With the machine running, slowly pour in the ice water just until a dough ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

When the dough has chilled, roll it out on a well floured surface until it’s about a 10″ circle (doesn’t have to be exact). Using whatever cutter you have, cut out as many as you can and then re-roll the scraps to use up all the dough. You should, ideally end up with an equal number of shapes.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Peel, core and dice the pears, place them in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice. Add the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the flour and drain off any excess liquid.

Place about a tablespoon of the filling into the center of half of the the shaped dough pieces and top with the remaining dough pieces. Using a fork, crimp the edges so that the filling doesn’t run out and cut a small slit into the top of each for steam to escape.

Place pies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brush with the cream and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pies are a light golden brown. The number of pies you get will depend on your size cutter but my 4 1/2″ cutter got me 12 cut outs for a total of 6 hand pies.