Cherry Rugelach Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 sticks 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups fresh pitted cherries about 1 1/2-2 pounds
- ½ cup water + 1 tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 egg beaten
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour and salt. In a food processor, blend butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add flour mixture and pulse a few times until combined. (You can do all this in a bowl by hand as well).
- Form the dough into a rectangle on your work surface, divide into eighths. Form each eighth into a ball, and wrap each ball in plastic wrap. Refrigerate balls until cold and firm, about 8 hours (you can speed this up by popping them into the freezer for the first hour).
- For the filling, place a saucepan over medium heat,. Add cherries, water, lemon juice and sugar.
- In a small bowl whisk cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water until smooth
- Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. Uncover. The cherries should have soften and exuded their juice. If not cover and cook until they are soft and liquidy. Let cool, then cover and refrigerate.
- Uncover and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is dark red, thick and glossy, about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Tear off a few more pieces of baking parchment to ease rolling. Remove one ball from the refrigerator at a time and unwrap. Place the ball between two sheets of parchment and roll out into a circle until about 3/8 of an inch thick. Put a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center, Fold one half over and crimp with a fork. Cut a slit in the center with a sharp knife, or poke three sets of holes with the fork.
- Brush with a beaten egg and repeat with remaining balls.
- Place in oven on a middle rack and bake 15 minutes. Check-- they should be just turning golden on top. If not, bake 5-7 minutes more. Remove from oven and place each pie on a baking rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
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