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Buttermilk Hand Pies

Updated: May 27, 2021


This recipe is an adaptation of Lisa Donovan’s Buttermilk Chess Pie recipe. I came across it whilst reading her enchanting and life-changing memoir. If you aren’t familiar with her yet, she’s a pastry chef and James Beard award-winning writer who has become a legend in her own right and known as one of the South’s best pastry chefs. I can’t recommend her book enough.

The recipe I’m sharing today is an adaptation because I was too scared to make a full pie so I made hand pies in cupcake tins instead and they turned out better than expected. Easy to gift and easy to share, a new version of her classic pie was created. The pie dough recipe is hers too and it is flakey, buttery, and lovely. A forgiving pie crust that calls for using your hands and a recipe that becomes second nature as you practice.


MAKES: Enough for 24 hand pies (in regular-sized cupcake tins)

TAKES: Pie dough - 1hr 15 min (including the dough sitting in the fridge for 1 hr)

Buttermilk filling - 1 hr (including a bake time of 50 min)


INGREDIENTS

  • Pie dough (recipe here)

  • 6 eggs

  • 3 cups sugar

  • 1/2 cup flour

  • 1.5 cups buttermilk

  • 1 tsp of salt

  • 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

  • 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

  • 4 oz of melted unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Make the pie dough (recipe here)

  2. Preheat the oven to 350F.

  3. Fill each cupcake hole with parchment paper.

  4. Take the pie dough out of the fridge, and roll out 1/6“ thick.

  5. Now layer pieces of your pie dough into the cupcake holes. I like to have the crust stick a tiny bit above the hole. (I cut my dough into strips and fill it like that but you do you.)

  6. As soon as a tray of cupcake holes are filled with pie crust, chuck it back into the fridge to cool down. (Very important)

  7. Whisk all other ingredients together. (Add the buttermilk in at the very end to avoid curdling.)

  8. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the cold, unbaked cupcake tin of pie shells and bake for 50 minutes. You want the top of the pies to be puffed up and a deep golden colour.

  9. Allow to cool for one hour before serving.


* if you have extra filling but not enough pie crust, just pour this into an oven-proof ceramic mug or bowl and bake as is. This becomes a delicious crust-free version.



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