Pie by the slice is neighborly and bighearted, the kind of dessert that invites you to sit and visit for a while. But hand pies are snack-y and fetching and fun: palm-size parcels that treat you to the pleasures of sugar-crusted pastry and vibrant, jewel-toned fruit without tethering you to a plate and fork. Bringing one up to your mouth for a bite feels more intimate and thrilling than using flatware, the way ice cream tastes better from a cone than from a dish. The sealed-up, dough-heavy framework makes it extra-special for crust lovers, since all those crimped edges mean that every bite is crisp and toasty. And that moment when you break through the buttery shell is electric: The ebullient fruit within bursts onto your palate, flaunting its sweet-tart flavor.
All that—and they’re functional, too. Not just portable but also easy to assemble and freeze weeks before baking. You can stockpile batches of peach, plum, or cherry pies for parties or personal on-demand indulgence, baking them off as casually as you would preportioned cookie dough.
What they’re not, however, is a travel-size version of pie that bakes in a plate. Hand pie dough requires a different formula because pastry that’s designed to bake up ultratender and flaky in a plate will slump and spread without walls to support it and shed crumbs with every bite. Same goes for the fruit: There isn’t much of it, so the flavor and acidity need to pop with Technicolor vividness. And
