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Campfire Cherry Hand Pies….do I have you intrigued? These little delights were made while camping, they are THAT easy! You can make hand pies with refrigerated dough or try the Tenderflake Pie Crust recipe that I have here on the website. You also don’t need a deep fryer – just a tried and true heavy skillet that you can put an inch or two of oil in! We made these over the campfire, making them a delicious and easy camping treat for the whole family! Try my whoopie pies for a little treat as well.
How to Make Hand Pies
Is anyone surprised that I made cherry hand pies while we were camping? I didn’t think so. There is no doubt about it; I am a glamper you guys. I love making delicious food too much to ever do a hike-into-the-wilderness-and-camp trip. I like a trailer, cold white wine, an oven, a fire and SO much cast iron that you would need an army of Unsullied to carry it with you into the wild.
Speaking of Game of Thrones, ( the Unsullied is a GOT reference) who else is watching? It’s AMAZING to finally see how the ending is unfolding, even if they are making us wait yet another year to find out what the scoop is! I won’t write any spoilers for those of you that don’t know, but things are getting exciting!
That’s the only drawback to the trailer, no TV. Ugh, talk about roughing it! How do I survive?
Now, these are cooked in oil, so you are going to need to think about keeping cooking oil in a container at your cabin/trailer etc because let me tell you, YOU CAN’T DISPOSE OF THAT OIL DOWN ANY DRAINS! Have an oil disposal plan in place, peeps!
Now that we have that out of the way, think about some cast iron as well. You only need an inch and a half or so of oil – I am a firm believer in working with as little oil as possible when you are out of the kitchen-which is just enough to cook one side without it sticking to the bottom, then turning it over.
Hot oil can be completely fine to cook with as long as you do it safely. That for me meant no kids or dog around. I have mentioned in my cookbook that I have firm rules when I am cooking with oil. I don’t own a deep fryer so I work with deep pans, just like you do with these cherry hand pies. You don’t need a vat of oil, simply enough heated over the fire to make these easily.
If you use tongs, you can get away with an inch of oil, for sure. If yon turn the pies by gently lifting with tongs and placing the uncooked side back in the oil, you need very little oil. Remember, we aren’t going for professional deep-frying here folks, these are CAMPING cherry hand pies and as much as I “glamp”, I forgive pies for being ugly while camping. They only need to taste great after a long day at the beach! You can also try a strawberry blackberry pie for another taste of summer!
Happy glamping babes!
Karlynn
Campfire Cherry Hand Pies
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 3 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 8 servings
- Calories
- 121
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 package of pre-made pie crusts that rolls out not in a pie plate (has two pie crusts per package)
- 1 small can of cherry pie filling
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- Also needed: cast iron pan vegetable oil and paper towels
Instructions
- Roll out the pie crust and cut out circles using a water glass. The circles will be around 2-3 inches wide. Gather together the crust and roll out again to the original thickness of the pie crust ( you can use that water glass! That’s what I did!) and cut out some more circles. Repeat until you have as many circles as desired!
- You have two options to make these : you can use one circle and pinch them into a moon like a perogy OR you can use two circles and make them into a round ravioli shape. The ones I made in the photos use two circles.
- Place one circle down and place 1 heaping tbsp of cherry pie filling into the center. Place another crust circle on top and using the tines of a fork, press the edges together all the way around. Gently turn over and repeat, sealing the pies edges on both sides with the fork. ( This method works beautifully, I had no leaks!)
- Place 1-2 inches of oil in a cast iron pan and place on the fire over coals, not direct flames. Heat the oil until it sizzles instantly when water droplets are dropped into it.
- Place 1-2 pies into the pan and cook until the first side is well browned. Take your tongs and turn each of them over.
- Once the other side has been browned, remove and drain on paper towels.
- If wanted, dredge the pies through white sugar after they have drained on the paper towels.
- Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Anna says
I made these ahead of time and put them in the freezer. I used Blackberry pie filling instead. I didn’t make them until the second day of camping. I took them out of the freezer in the afternoon and put in the fridge until I was ready to cook them. We converted our Sprinter and installed a mini fridge with a small freezer compartment. It comes in handy. I ended up using my Dutch oven. They came out perfect !! I’m so excited at finding this. Thank you for sharing this. My husband and I devoured them.
Christina Warren says
Can I deep fry these?
Kelly says
Just made these BUT used apple pie filling and fried them at home on the stove. So good!
Googie says
Hi! Just an idea if you want to calculate the caloric value of the absorbed oil. Just weigh the cooled oil after you’re done cooking pies, divide by number of pies, and multiply by calories per gram or whatever for the oil.
Of course it’s not super important! I mean, we’re eating these pies.
Murray says
Just great. Was out camping so picked Saskatoon berries and made a cornstarch glaze and filled pockets was just great
Michelle says
Do you think I could pre make these at home and freeze them and then make them over the fire at the campsite (tent camping is oh so fun!??)
Lori Spaidal says
We have cast iron pie irons that we use for many meals(chili cheese pies, and pie filling pies), We use them when we are camping or on the BBQ. Check them out!
dp says
Can you be more specific when you call for “1 small can of cherry pie filling” TY
Tim says
The pies look great. Can’t wait to try them, but what’s a “perogy”?
Connie Harris says
THIS RECIPE LOOKS DELICIOUS. CANT WAIT TO TRY IT ON OUR UPCOMING CAMPING TRIP. WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW THEY TURNED OUT,
Jess says
These sound amazing! 🙂
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