A treat for your Sweet!

 

Valentines Day is a few weeks away and I wanted to make something sweet to celebrate! 

My sister-in-law gave me the heart shaped pocket pie mold from Williams-Sonoma for my wedding shower and it has been a fun addition to my kitchen. I made some apple pocket pies a few months ago and they turned out yummy. For Valentines Day I'm making chocolate pies. 

I love making these pies because you can either spend a l-o-n-g day making these or you can break it up steps and make them over several days. Enjoy!

Tools Needed:

Pocket Pie Mold or large heart cookie cutter and a fork

Pastry Board

Rolling Pin

Pastry Brush

Wax Paper

Colored Sugar

Ingredients:
4 - pre-made pie crusts or double the recipe below
Pastry:

• 9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 cups
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 1/2 ounces shortening, approximately 6 tablespoons
• 3/4 cup milk

Chocolate Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• Pinch kosher salt
• 10 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

I broke this project up over three days. The first day I made the pie crust and refrigerated them. 

In the bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and mix. Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly. Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together. Lightly flour your hands and the counter top and turn the dough out onto the counter top. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times. Place dough in a zip lock bag and refrigerate or continue to the next step. 

On the second day, I made the chocolate filling and assembled the pocket pies. 

Let the dough stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. On a floured surface, roll out 1 dough disk into a round 3/16 inch thick. Brush off the excess flour. Using an apple pocket pie mold, cut out 8 of each shape (4 solid and 4 with the decorative cutout). Re-roll the dough scraps, if necessary, and cut out more shapes. Repeat with the remaining dough disk. If you don't have a fancy pocket pie cutter than use a cookie cutter and seal the edges with a fork.

Place a solid dough shape in the bottom half of the cutter and gently press the dough into the mold. Fill the center with 2 Tbs. chocolate filling and brush the edges of the dough with some of the egg wash. Top with a shape with a decorative cutout. Press the top half of the cutter down to seal and crimp the edges of the pie. Remove the pie from the mold and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Freeze the pies for 30 minutes.

Resist the urge to overfill them because they will leak. If they end up leaking don't stress. If this happens allow them to cool just a couple mins than take them from the cookie sheet with a spatula and let them cool on a rack. The excess will drip off and they will be beautiful. 

After they have been in the freezer for 30 minutes you can either proceed to bake the pies or you can move them into a freezer container and freeze them up to 3 months. These pies are awesome because you bake them straight from the freezer. 

On the third day, I baked the pies on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 22-25 minutes.