written 08/07/2023, updated 08/07/2023

What
Fruit-filled hand pies, air fried, and with vegan ingredients. Original recipe from Food Network Magazine. Air frying is faster than baking: 20 minutes vs 50 minutes
Ingredients
Dough
2 cups All-Purpose Flour (+ dusting)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp baking powder
1 stick (8 Tbsp) cold unsalted butter (small pieces)
2 Tbsp cold vegetable shortening
4-6 Tbsp Ice Water
Filling
*your choice of fruit
1 cup Blueberries
1 cup Raspberries
½ cup Strawberries (chopped)
¼ cup Granulated Sugar
¼ tsp ground cardamom
Kosher Salt (pinch)
1 Tbsp Water (+ 2-3 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
Optional: Glaze (or equivalent), Coarse Sugar/Confectioner Sugar, Egg Wash/Olive Oil/Melted Vegan Butter, Ice Cream
Supplies: Parchment paper, rolling pin, plastic wrap, mixing bowl, spatula, brush, drip pan/foil, air fryer
Time
Prep 40 minutes + Set 2 hours + Air Fry ~20 minutes = Total 3 hours
Servings:
8 Servings
Directions
Prep
Dough
- Whisk flour (2 cups), sugar (2 Tbsp), salt (optional ½ tsp), and baking powder (¼ tsp)
- Add half of butter (4 Tbsp) and all of shortening (2 Tbsp)
- Rub until shortening not detectable
- Add rest of butter (4 Tbsp) and work until pea-sized butter pieces remain
- Mix in ice water (4 Tbsp) with fork or hands
- Gradually add more of ice water (1 Tbsp at a time) only until dough sticks when squeezed (it’s okay if it’s crumbly)
- Turn onto plastic wrap
- Shape into a disk
- Refrigerate until firm (~2 hours)
Filling
- Combine in saucepan: fruit (2½ -3 cups, chopped), sugar (¼ cup), ground cardamom* (¼ tsp), Kosher salt (pinch) and water (1 Tbsp)
- Cook medium heat, stirring, until berries release juice and simmers
- Continue cooking and stirring, until thickened (~10 min)
- Whisk cornstarch and lime juice
- Stir into saucepan
- Cook until glossy (~30 sec)
- Remove from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally
*if no cardamom available, can substitute. Best is 1:1 cinnamon and nutmeg. Other choices: ginger, cloves
Cooking
Crust
- Divide dough into 8 pieces
- Roll each into a ball
- Flatten into ~6in rounds,
- Dust with flour as needed
- Spoon filling in, leaving an edge for crimping (about 2 dessert spoons each)
- Fold in half, then fold in edges, and crimp
- Refrigerate each while preparing the rest
Air Fry
- Preheat air-fryer to 350F
- Brush on egg wash/olive oil/melted butter to each pie
- Cut slits in each for venting
- Use air fryer basket and cook 15-20 minutes until golden brown
- Remove
- Let cool
- Optional Glaze: Whisk confectioner’s sugar with 2-3 Tsp water until smooth, drizzle over pies OR use Apple Jelly, etc
- Optional: Dust with coarse sugar
- Optional: Serve with Ice Cream
ENJOY
Pictures






Notes
- I used peaches and blueberries, but would recommend either less blueberries, or just peaches by themselves. Blueberries too powerful
- If I were to make again, I would do 2 half-batches of filling: one peach and one apple. Or whatever flavors, just 2 of them
- If you put too much filling, then they will burst. LOL
- Your choice on rolled thickness of dough
- You don’t have to use shortening, but it will make dough more dense
- I happened to use too much water and overworked the dough making it soft and harder to fold
- I also cheated and placed in freezer for 30 minutes before placing in fridge
- Then messed up by taking the dough out too early which meant it softened too much
- The original recipe calls for salt in the dough portion… I decided that I don’t like it especially since baking powder is also salty. Will substitute either sugar or cut the salt altogether
- Be careful not to over flour when applying filling
