Strawberry Hand Pies ( Valentine's Special) ~Step by Step Pics

Do we really need a day to tell someone that we love them?? I don't think so.. my personal opinion may vary with yours, What do you think of this day? I feel we can express love, affection and friendship any time of the day, month or year. Should we be waiting for a particular day of the year to express our love for sending messages to partners, family and friends. Am not just saying about valentine's day, it may be a 'friendship day' as well. Now adays, all these special days have become marketing strategies to wrap around people to buy apparel, foods that symbolize that particular day. For valentine's day, everything that I see for the last couple of days in social media / e commerce sites or newspapers is RED in colour; may that be a dress or food or crafts or in a heart shape. Now you may feel to ask me the same q too- why did I post a heart shaped pie if I don't favor this day? Answer is quite simple here, I also got carried away with the marketing :D

Anyways, I just thought to jot down my point just incase if you think I valued Valentine's day so much. For me its just like another beautiful day but didn't want to disappoint my readers and friends who wait eagerly to see a Valentine recipe here. However, I didn't wish to use the bright red chemical food color as there has been quite a lot of controversy on the usage of that red food colour. Not going in deep about this topic as its a BIG topic on its own. Coming back to today's recipe- I had some fresh strawberries and was looking out ideas to finish them off as kids were reluctant to have just like that. Then I saw some strawberry hand pies which were perfect bite size pieces and I was sure kids will love them. These hand pies are quite simple to make may that be the filling or the cover. I baked both semicircle and heart shaped hand pie.The heart shape of the pie was my idea to cut using a cookie cutter and cover it with another heart shape pie dough. I must say they were really cute once baked. The round shapes can be folded in semi circles and can be baked which was much easier than the heart shapes. The outer cover of the pie is crunchy like puff pastry sheets and the sprinkled granulated sugar on top adds to the crunch. The filling is juicy, sweet and colorful. Kids were mad over these cute pies. Do give this a try if you loved it. I have also posted a few Valentine's day recipes like listed below, check them out if interested too-

White Chocolate Apple Pie

Red Velvet Cake

Mini Cheesecake

Chocolate Covered Almond Stuffed Dates

Preparation time ~ 15 mins

Baking time ~ 30-35 mins

Serves ~ 12 hand pies

Author ~ Julie

Ingredients

all purpose flour( maida) 1.5 cups

granulated sugar 2 tbsp

salt 1/2 tsp

unsalted butter cold 4 tbsp or 60 gms

cold milk 5-6 tbsp

for filling

fresh strawberries 1.5 cups

granulated sugar 2 tbsp

corn starch / flour 2 tsp

Method

• Wash and cut the strawberries in small pieces. Boil the chopped strawberries with corn starch, sugar and 1/4 cup water for 2 minutes, when thickens switch off and cool, it may take 3 mins.

• In a mixing bowl mix all purpose flour(maida) with salt and sugar. Rub in cubed butter and mix well.
• Then add cold milk a tbsp each and form a tight dough. I made the dough using up to 6 tbsp milk. You can check the dough if it’s comes together. No need to knead the dough any further. Shape the dough in two rectangles and refrigerate.

• Refrigerate for 30-45 mins. Then remove and dust lightly. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and line a tray with parchment paper, keep ready.
•  Roll out in a rectangle shape then cut heart  shapes or round shapes. Place filling in the center. Dab the edges with water to stick with another heart. shape. If you are making round shapes and add a tsp of filling and fold the round in semicircles. Make vents on top of the hand pie otherwise the filling may seep out during baking.  Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

• Bake in preheated oven to 350 then bake for 28-33 mins. Mine was done in 30 mins. Cool on wire rack and enjoy.

NOTES

* You can use a beaten egg to the top of hand pie to add more color instead of butter.

* The recipe is adapted from King Arthur's website but I have modified slightly to suit our tastes.

* You can use any other berries other than strawberry for the filling.

Falooda is a Mughalai originated Indian version of an ice cream dessert made with various layers consisting of milk, jelly, noodles, sabja seeds and ice cream. I love falooda because we get to taste a different layer of bites in this refreshing summer drink. There can be n number of variations of this dessert, as many there are ice cream flavours. So, there are no hard and fast rules to make a good falooda. You can always play up with different flavoured jellies, corn flakes, choco chips and many more to add on and make your own version of falooda. 

This is a strawberry falooda that I made using fresh strawberries. I first made the strawberry crush and then prepared the strawberry milk with it. I have used the thin vermicelli that you make kunafa. But if you get hold of falooda sev then use that. Strawberry jelly, Strawberry ice cream is added on top of the fresh strawberry milk shake. If you are interested to try making strawberry ice cream at home, then here is the link. Do give this a try and enjoy !!

Preparation time ~ 20 minutes

Cooking time ~ 10 minutes

Author ~ Julie

Serves ~  4 glass

Ingredients

to make strawberry milk shake 

strawberry crush 5 tbsp

milk 2 cups

granulated sugar 1 tbsp

to make strawberry jelly

strawberry jelly powder 1 pkt

hot water 2 cups

to cook noodles/ falooda sev

falooda sev/ noodles 1/4 cup

water 1 cup

Assembling

strawberry milk shake 2 1/4 cups

cooked sev 1/2 cup

sabja seeds 2 tbsp (water 1 cup)

strawberry crush 3 tbsp

strawberry ice cream, 4 scoops

Method

• Boil the water to make strawberry jelly. Add the water to the jelly powder, mix to dissolve. Then, cool down the solution and refrigerate for 2 hours to set.
• Boil water to make the noodles. Then, add the noodles(I have used thin noodles) and cook till soft(thin noodles took about a minute). Drain the water and keep ready.
• Soak the sabja seeds in a glass of water. Leave undisturbed for 30 minutes until swells up nicely.
• In the meantime, add the strawberry crush, add chilled milk(2 cups) and sugar in a blender jar. Blend to a smooth mix. Refrigerate until use.
• Take a glass and add a layer of strawberry crush on the inner walls of the glass. In this add the chopped jelly. To this then add a tbsp of sabja seeds and then add a tbsp of cooked noodles. Then again, add a layer of strawberry jelly. Pour the milk until almost full and add a scoop of strawberry ice cream to finish. Serve immediately !!

NOTES

* You can always alter the quantity of jelly, sabja, cooked noodles in each glass. Add a layer of crunchy corn flakes too for a additional crunch.

More strawberry recipes-

• Strawberry Crepes
• Strawberry Shake
• Strawberry Cupcakes
• Strawberry Ice cream(eggless)
• Strawberry Oats smoothies 
• Mango Strawberry Smoothie
• Strawberry Salsa
• Strawberry Popsicle
• Strawberry Milk Shake
• Mixed Fruit Salad
• Trifle Pudding 
• Easy Strawberry Pudding
• Vanilla pannacotta with strawberry topping
• Strawberry Shrikhand
• Cantaloupe- Strawberry Popsicle
• Strawberry bell Pepper Sandwich