Those ceramic steam birds that you put in pies? It upsets me when they go in the oven.

I used to cry when I was younger because inanimate objects could come to life and it was a horrible thought to think of that poor little bird dying in the oven.  And I haven’t ever really got over it.  We got gifted one last Christmas and he has been no where near any pie.  Until he took a glamourous photoshoot between these buttery little flaky pastry hand pies.

Which is why, these little pies are perfect for not committing fake aviancide.

Makes around 15

Ingredients

Plum Filling

4 firm eating plums

1tbsp caster sugar

2tbps sloe gin (you could use any alcohol here, like ameretto or whiskey.  Or you could just substitute it out with a couple of tablespoons of water)

Pastry 

170gr plain flour

1tbsp granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

120gr cold butter, cut into chunks

60ml ice cold water (plus extra)

Method

1, Preheat your oven to 200o/c.  Prepare the plums by cutting them into eight segments and destoning.  Place them in an ovenproof dish and sprinkle over the sugar and pour in the sloe gin.

2, Toss it all together until the plums are covered and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.  Leave this to cool completely before filling the pies.

3, Make the pastry by sifting the flour into a large bowl with the sugar and salt. Toss in the butter and using your fingertips, rub it into the flour until you have a shaggy and lumpy consistency. This will make the pastry light and flaky.

4, Using a butter knife, add in the cold water, a tablespoon at a time and using a cutting motion, bring the pastry together. You want a soft but not sticky dough. Chill this for around fifteen minutes.  It doesn’t need a really long chilling time.

5, Preheat your oven to 190o/c and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Roll out your dough to around 3mm thick. Stamp out as many rounds as you can, approximately 7.5cm in diameter. You can reroll any leftover dough.  I made around fifteen altogether.

6, Divide the cooled plums between the pastry discs, heaping it to one side. I used about two or three segments in each pie. Dampen the edges around the filling with a little egg wash and fold the unfilled side over the top to form a semi circle.

7, Crimp the edges with a fork, brush with the egg wash and place on the prepared baking sheets.