Did you know that February is National Cherry Month? What better way to celebrate than a Progressive Party from Kitchen PLAY? I love working with Casey and was so excited when she contacted me about this great opportunity.

Tart cherries are considered a super fruit and it's great that they are available throughout the year in dried form, frozen or as a juice. For my part with the appetizer, I was given the task to develop a recipe with the dried form of tart cherries.

I'm not sure why, I just immediately thought of pairing it with brie cheese. First, I made sure it would taste good together and it definitely does! You can put a couple of slices of brie and dried tart cherries on a cracker and it would a perfect snack or appetizer.

So then I thought, what about little mini pockets…but these aren't the sweet kind…they are savory!

I used a prep bowl (see top left corner) to cut out pieces of the pie dough. Added a couple of small slices of brie and a little bit of the dried tart cherries. I folded over the pie dough and pinched it shut.

After 10-12 minutes in the oven, you get this goodness…it doesn't have to look perfect. And I have to say, these mini pockets taste best right out the oven (let them cool for a couple of minutes, of course!).

The flakiness of the mini pocket and the creamy brie paired with the tart cherries, makes a great combination!

I hope you'll give these or one of the other recipes over at KitchenPLAY a try. (I can't wait to make a cocktail with the tart cherry juice and sprinkle the dried tart cherries over a salad!)

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Tart Cherry Mini Pockets with Brie

Servings 18 mini pockets

Ingredients

• 1 box of store bought pie dough I used Pillsbury (comes with 2 pie shells)
• 1/2 cup dried tart cherries
• approximately 1/2 lb brie wedge I used closer to 0.4 lb

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Allow the pie dough to sit out for at least 15 minutes before unrolling it. Unroll and using a rolling pin, roll it out a little bit thinner (to about an 1/8 inch). Using a circle cutter or cup, cut out 3 1/2 inch circles.
• Add a small slice or two of brie cheese and a few dried tart cherries. Don't over fill. Fold over and pinch closed. Repeat until baking sheet is full, about 9 or 10 mini pockets.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is bubbly and the mini pockets are golden brown.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, I was compensated for my participation in the Progressive Party Series over at KitchenPLAY. My opinions are always my own!

The post [Appetizer] Tart Cherry Mini Pockets with Brie appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I love having them as a dessert or even for a breakfast snack.

You can make these without using leftover pie dough but when using a full box of pie dough, use 1 1/2 cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen) with 2 Tbsp of sugar for your filling. Also, I found that if you aren't using re-rolled pie dough, I would roll out the fresh dough out a few times before using it to make your hand pies, otherwise the pies will be translucent.

On the left, is what the dough looks like after I cut out the chicken pot pie crusts. I cut out a 4-5 inch square. Fill them with the blueberry mixture. Be sure to prick holes on top before doing an egg wash and topping with sugar.

I love when the blueberries burst and leak out a little. Looks yummy. I don't think these need to look the least bit perfect. Sometimes I will put some egg on the dough before sealing, sometimes I don't. Competely up to you.

Serve them a few minutes out of the oven or the next morning for breakfast. They taste great either way. I store them in zippered plastic bags and they are good for a couple of days.

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(Quick) Blueberry Hand Pies

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 5 -10 pies

Ingredients

• Leftover pie dough or 1 pie crust package 2 pie crusts
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or 1 1/2 cup blueberries if using 2 whole pie crusts)
• 1 Tbsp sugar or 2 Tbsp sugar, more sugar to top the pies
• 1 egg beaten

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with foil on it, be sure to spray the foil with baking spray.
• Mix blueberries together with sugar (look at measurement in the ingredient listing) in a small or medium sized bowl. Set aside.
• Whether the pie dough is leftover or packaged pie crust, mold the dough into a square shape and roll out to about 1/8 inch think.
• Cut into 4 or 5 inch squares. Add a little bit of the blueberry sugar mixture into the middle of the squares. Be careful not to overfill them!
• If you choose, add egg wash to the edges of two adjacent sides. Then, take one corner and fold over to meet the other corner, creating a triangle. Using the tines of a fork, push down on the edges to create a crease. Using the fork, prick holes on top of the hand pie, twice. Brush an egg wash over it and sprinkle sugar on top.
• Reroll leftover dough from cutting and/or 2nd pie crust until you have used up your dough and blueberries and repeat the above steps for each pie.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

The post Blueberry Hand Pies appeared first on The Little Kitchen.