Quick and easy cranberry orange hand pies recipe! Festive and flaky holiday hand pies made with cranberry sauce and store bought pie crust.
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Hi, Rhubarbarians! Today we are making the perfect, easy, festive dessert for the holidays. Flaky cranberry orange hand pies!
These have a super flaky pie crust, and are an adorable hand held size, about the size of a cookie. They make wonderful holiday treat gifts and are easy enough to make at home with the kiddos.
Roll up your sleeves, crank some Christmas music, make yourself an apple cider hot toddy, and get to holiday baking!
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Quick and easy holiday hand pies
Super quick and easy hand pies for the holiday season! The filling is loaded with all your favorite flavors of the holidays like cranberry, orange, and warming spices. All cooked in a flaky pie crust.
Imagine the scent that will fill your house while these holiday hand pies are baking in the oven. Just.. amazingly cozy.
We keep things really simple by using store bought pie crust and pre-made cranberry sauce. Canned cranberry sauce (jellied or whole) or homemade cranberry sauce are both great options.
So... are you ready to make these festive holiday treats?
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Here's what you'll need
- The pie crust: You'll want a total of four 9" pie crusts. We like to buy the store bought unroll and bake packages that come with two. We go for Simple Truth Organic. Trader Joe's makes a great, vegetarian one as well. Be careful when choosing the pie crust, as some of them are made with lard, which is not vegetarian.
- Ingredients for the filling: Cranberry sauce, cinnamon, orange zest, brown sugar, allspice, clove, ginger, and salt. Combine these together with a small bowl and a small fork.
- A cutting board: One large enough to roll out a 9" pie crust.
- A cookie cutter or glass: A cooker cutter that is 2.75" to 3" in diameter. Or a glass that has a mouth the same width. We use the top of a standard 16" mason jar. Also possibly a knife to cut the circles out, if using the top of a glass.
- A fork or round hand pie press: For sealing the hand pies together.
- Milk of your choice, pastry or basting brush, and turbinado sugar: For topping the hand pies before baking. If you don't have a brush, you can use your fingers.
- 2 baking sheets: Both covered in parchment paper.
- An oven for baking: Set at 450 degrees F.
Got leftover cranberry sauce? This is the perfect recipe to use up the cranberry sauce in your fridge! Canned whole berry or jellied cranberry sauce are both great options.
How to make them
These little holiday hand pies are really easy to make! But there are quite a few steps to them (full instructions:
- First, your pie crust needs to be room temperature. Don't skip this step! If the pie crust is too cold, it will crack when you try to roll it out. Let it sit, unrolled, for at least 30 minutes.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the filling while the pie crust is coming to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven, roll out the dough and cut out your circles. You will have scrap dough that you can roll out and make a few extra if you'd like.
- Build your hand pies and seal them. Cut slits in the top and brush with a bit of milk. Then sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake until golden brown.
- Make and bake your second batch.
- Enjoy!
Have you tried our easy cream cheese cranberry crescent rolls?
How to make them vegan
Depending on the dough and cranberry sauce you use, these hand pies should be easily converted to a vegan diet.
- The dough: We use dough that is free of any animal product and isn't made with dairy or eggs. Be careful, as some store bought dough can contain lard, which is not vegetarian or vegan.
- The filling: Also make sure that your cranberry sauce doesn't contain any gelatin.
- The sugars: Sometimes, refined sugar can contain animal products. Read the ingredients and check to make sure.
- The milk: Use a plant based milk of your choice to brush onto the pies before you bake it. We like almond milk, but any unflavored and unsweetened milk will work.
Have you tried our vegan cranberry cocktail meatballs? They make a wonderful vegan holiday appetizer!
How to serve them
These cranberry orange pies are perfect for Christmas because they are very versatile in size and don't need to be refrigerated!
- As a dessert: Serve them the same as you would a slice of pie! So good served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Bring them to a potluck: These hand pies travel very well! They are also individual sized, so there's no need for utensils or serve ware.
- Add them to a Christmas cookie tray: These are only about 3" wide, making them about the same size as your Christmas cookies. These would be such a big hit in a Christmas cookie tin!
- Give them as a gift: Who wouldn't love receiving mini, hand held pies as a gift? Wrap them up in cellophane and tie with some ribbon.
These cranberry orange hand pies are ready in just about an hour, so they make a fabulous last minute Christmas gift!
Make ahead, storing, and freezing
Make ahead: If you need to speed these up a bit, you can make the filling ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use. You can also cut the dough into circles ahead of time and keep those refrigerated until ready to use. You can even build the pies and store them ready-to-bake in the refrigerator.
Storing: Store your hand pies in an air tight container on the counter at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Freezing: These hand pies don't freeze well after they are baked. However, they can be frozen before they are baked! Prepare the pies and place them on a sheet pan just as you would to bake them. Freeze them on the sheet pan until they are frozen and then wrap them individually before storing. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.
FAQs
I don't. But here is a vegan pie crust recipe for you!
Yep! Here's a tutorial on how to make whole berry or jellied cranberry sauce.
We like unsweetened almond milk. Just make sure you are using unflavored and unsweetened milk.
The oven is your best choice here. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and spread the hand pies out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover them with foil and bake them just until they are heated through, about 10 minutes. Cooking times will vary, depending on the temperature of the pies before baking. You may want to wrap the edges in foil to prevent the crust from burning.
Yes! You should have extra filling after making all 20, so go for it!
Recipe
Quick and easy cranberry orange hand pies recipe! Festive and flaky holiday hand pies made with cranberry sauce and store bought pie crust.
- 2 packages store bought unroll and bake 9" pie crust (4 crusts total)*
- 1 cup cranberry sauce, canned or homemade
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 2 tsp dark brown sugar
- 1/16 tsp ground allspice
- 1/16 tsp ground clove
- 1/16 tsp ground ginger
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 4 tsp milk of your choice
- 8 tsp turbinado sugar
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Remove the dough from the packaging and let sit on the counter, unrolled, until room temperature. About 30 minutes.
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While the dough is sitting, combine the cranberry sauce, cinnamon, orange zest, brown sugar, allspice, clove, ginger, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
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Preheat the oven to 450° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll one of the pie crusts and make sure it doesn't crack when you unroll it. Press any small cracks back together with your fingers. Using a 2.75" round cookie cutter, or top of a mason jar or glass, cut out 10 circles. Repeat with a second pie crust so you have 20 small circles.
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Place 1 tsp of the cranberry mixture in the middle of one of your dough circles. Lay another dough circle on top of that and press the edges together with prongs of a fork to seal (see pictures for reference). Don't worry if it gets a bit messy! Cut a small slit in the top of each hand pie. You will have 10 hand pies ready to cook. Lightly brush the top of each hand pie with with milk of your choice and then sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
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Bake the hand pies for 11 minutes, or until golden brown.
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While the first batch is baking, prepare the remaining 10 hand pies by repeating steps 3 and 4.
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When the first round of hand pies are baked, remove from the oven and bake the remaining 10.
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Let the pies cool slightly and enjoy!
*We used Simple Truth Organic available at Kroger. But see other options above in this post.
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