getting handsy.

apropos of my recent cooking-with-corn-in-april post, seen here, today i bought a big bag of fat, in-season cherries.  so good straight from the bag, sweet cherries disappear with a quickness in my boy’s small brown hands.  but i recently came across a couple of recipes that maintain the texture & juicy cherry-ness of these stone fruits while switching things up a bit.  plus, in my world, pie is always in season.

cherry hand pies (makes 6)
adapted from food & wine magazine
1 1/2 C cherries, pitted & chopped
1/4 sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 T cornstarch
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed cut into 6 rectangles
1 egg, lightly beaten
sanding sugar, if desired

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

in a bowl, combine first five ingredients.  mound by spoonfuls onto one end of each rectangle.  fold over & seal the edges decoratively with the tines of a fork & brush the tops with the beaten egg. sprinkle the tops with sanding sugar & place each hand pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  bake for 30 minutes or until puffed & golden brown.