This recipe came to me in my grandmother’s recipe box when she passed away…one of only a few she actually wrote down. Otherwise, most of the recipes I have from her were gleaned during countless summer hours in my youth, when I’d sit at the breakfast counter in the kitchen and watch her cook while we chatted — some of the most comforting memories of my childhood. Thank you, Grandmother…I miss you so much.
Grandmother Castleman's Fried Pies - pantry version
You can use pretty much any fruit filling recipe you want inside these; especially good with peaches, cherries or apple pie filling.
Equipment
- Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
PASTRY DOUGH
- 5 cup AP Flour
- 2 cup (plus 2 TBLS) Crisco Shortening plus additional for frying pies
- 1 tsp table salt
- 1 can Milnot Cream or other evaporated milk, such as Pet or Carnation
FILLING
- 1 can fruit of any kind (esp peaches, applies or cherries)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 tbls AP Flour (OR 1 tsp cornstarch)
Instructions
MAKE THE FILLING:
- Drain most of the juice from your fruit, before adding it to a saucepan. Sprinkle in sugar and flour/cornstarch and stir. Cook on stove until thickened, stirring occasionally, then transfer to a bowl and refrigerator until cold.
MAKE THE PASTRY DOUGH:
- Whisk flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Using a fork, cut shortening into your dry mix. (Resulting mixture should resemble damp sand, with some small pea-sized pieces of shortening mixed in.)
- Add sugar and cream; use a rubber or plastic spatula to lightly toss ingredients together until they barely clump together into a shaggy dough-like mass. Continue to use the spatula to press the mass together into something resembling a shaggy ball of dough. (Be careful not to overwork; you want to do this with minimal time/effort -- the ball just has to hold together.)
- Cut the ball in half, and place each piece in the center of its own sheet of plastic wrap. Fold the edges of the wrap over the mound, using the plastic to flatten and shape the dough pieces into thick disks about an inch thick. Chill for at least a half hour.
ASSEMBLE AND FRY PIES:
- Using one disk of dough at a time: remove disk from refrigerator and allow to warm slightly (about 10 minutes.) Roll dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4" thickness.
- Use a large round dough cutter or a saucer and knife to cut circles in the rolled pie dough.
- Place approx 2 TBLS of cold cooked filling in the center of each dough circle. Fold the circle in half and crimp with a fork to seal the filling inside. Refrigerate pies on a cookie sheet for 30m to an hour.
- Using a cast iron or non-stick skillet, heat shortening to approximately 350F. (Your melted shortening should be about an inch deep in the pan -- enough to reach half-way up one of the fried pies.) Fry pies in batches, cooking for about 3-4 minutes per side -- you're only trying to get the dough cooked through and crispy-brown. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan, and to allow the oil temperature to come back to normal in between batches.
- Set finished pies on a plate covered with a layer of paper towel to allow the grease to drain.
- SERVING: Pies are best eaten while warm, but be careful to let them cool slightly as the filling can be VERY HOT when the pies are right out of the skillet!
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