Strawberry Cream Cheese Hand Pies

Pie crust filled with soft cream cheese and fresh sliced strawberries made in the perfect size to fit in your hand.

Guess what time it is y'all? 
It's strawberry season here in Rockingham county and that means the fields are full with plump, juicy, sweet strawberries, just waiting to be picked and eaten as as, or made into a mouth watering treat.

I decided to make some quick and easy hand pies with the strawberries I recently got from Wise Acres Strawberries.This happens to be a new place I ran across the other day, and in speaking with the owner I found out he had actaually been doing strawberries about 3 years.....I must get out of the house more often! 

As soon as I got home with my berries, my mind was going.

What should I make? I only had about a quart!

  Should I make my STRAWBERRY LEMONADE 

 Maybe one of my BERRY SHAKES

Maybe a cake, a pie, my strawberry fluff.

GOOD GRIEF! It seemed like a lot of pressure.I really wished I had enough strawberries and time to make them all....I LOVE ME SOME STRAWBERRIES!

Earlier in the day a great friend of mine had given me several packs of frozen pie crust when I was delivering eggs to her, it occurred to me, put them to good use and make hand pies.

I still hadn't decided whether to fry these like old fashion FRIED APPLE PIES that we love so much or just bake them.

I knew I could substitute the homemade crust with what I had been given, but I hadn't yet dusted off the dehydrator and the old fashion pies are really much better with dehydrated fruit.

I finally decided on baking them in the oven.

My little one really likes them this way because he calls them pop tarts.

My hubby likes them because he takes them to work to eat for breakfast or a treat when his 3:00 sweet tooth hits.

I like them simply because they are easy and tasty and I can eat them anytime.
You could easily use from scratch crust if you prefer not to take this shortcut or you may want a more buttery crust and this can be achieved by using crescent rolls instead of the pie crust for something more danish like.

This recipe doesn't call for a whole lot of fresh berries so I do have some fresh berries left that we are just going to gobble up as is.

 Other delicious strawberry recipes CLICK HERE

Now for the new recipe, good luck and enjoy!

Jodies Kitchen Strawberry Cream Cheese Hand Pies

4 ounces cream cheese (room temp)

1/2 cup powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon strawberry jam or preserves

Strawberries cleaned, capped and thinly sliced (I used about 8)

1 package pie crust (2 in a box)

1 tablespoon melted butter

Sugar (white table sugar)

Preheat oven to 375F.In a bowl combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and jam.Beat with mixer until well combined.On a lightly floured surface place one sheet of pie crust and trim the edges to make it more into a square or rectangle.Cut the one large pie crust into four squares or rectangles and then transfer onto a baking sheet.Evenly distribute filling onto each piece of crust, but NOT going all the way to the edge of crust.Unroll the other pie crust and repeat making squares or rectangles.Place these on top of the crust with filling, and seal edges of crust together using a fork.Brush crust with melted butter and sprinkle well with sugar making sure to cover all of the top crust.Bake in oven until crust is light golden brown.Good luck!