Cherry Hand Pies

Last weekend I traveled to southside Virginia for my niece's engagement party.  It wasn't a big party, but instead, a chance for the families to get to know each other.  I offered to make something for the party but my brother and his partner, Karen, had everything under control.  I did go early on Saturday to help set up.  Karen made everything look special.

Since I wasn't cooking for the party I decided to make cherry hand pies to share with Dick and Karen.  I had never made hand pies and I have not been big on making pie crust (I am coming around), but I had a bag of cherries in the refrigerator that had been there a while...."use it or lose it" is my new motto....and I had everything I needed on hand.

Okay, pitting cherries is awful...especially when you don't have a cherry pitter.  And it makes such a mess.

The pie crust went together well but was sort of hard to roll (oh, so much butter).  I used the crust recipe suggested and followed the directions exactly.  Far be it for me to start messing with pie crust recipes.  

See that big chunk of butter!!!

I tried one when they first came out of the oven and then ate another one for breakfast before I left for the party.  I did manage to take the rest with me.  There was so much going on that I wasn't sure that they were even noticed so when I got home on Sunday I left a message for my brother...either eat them or put them in the freezer.

I got an email from him the next day.  The message was something like, "I didn't think I liked cherry pie.  That was the best pie I have ever had."...slightly exaggerated I am sure.