These Wild Blueberry Hand Pies are a delicious mix of goat cheese, spicy ginger and amazing blueberry flavor!
Disclaimer: By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.
It’s a blueberry fest today. Wild blueberries, that is. Ever tried them? If not, you should — these are not your average berries. In fact, they’re very different from the fresh blueberries you find in the produce aisle. These guys are smaller and have a much more intense blueberry flavor (which I happen to love). They also have double the antioxidant power of any other blueberry on the planet! This is mostly due to a flavonoid called anthocyanin. Anthocyanin is found in the berry’s deep blue pigment and is responsible for their awesome antioxidant and anti-inflammatory powers.
You can find them growing in the fields of Maine, Eastern Canada, and Quebec where they are frozen at harvest, locking in their perfectly fresh, intensely blueberry flavor. You can also find them in the frozen section at the grocery store. And if you’re worried about buying them frozen vs. fresh, don’t. As a recent University of Georgia study points out, frozen is actually better for you than fresh these days!
And yes, I would be saying all of this even if this post wasn’t a part of a contest sponsored by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America. I’ve been using and recommending these amazing super fruits for years!
I had the best time with my mom in the kitchen creating this little hand pie. I’m calling it a hand pie, but it started out as a bonnet. I was trying to use up some biscuit dough I had leftover from my famous Christmas monkey bread. Well, after several attempts at bonnet making, we realized it just didn’t work…it tasted too much like a biscuit. We decided to go the pie dough route and came up with this apple-shaped creation.
What’s inside these Wild Blueberry hand pies? It’s a delicious blend of spicy ginger, wild blueberries and tangy goat cheese. This mixture is so delicious, I would serve it on a cheese plate, too! It would be an awesome spread for a cracker or sliced baguette. Oh yes, it’s that good.
Here’s how you make it:
Wild Blueberry, Ginger & Goat Cheese Hand Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cups Wild Blueberries thawed
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 6 oz log goat cheese softened
- zest from half a lemon
- 1 roll refrigerated pie crust
- White sparkling sugar sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In small sauce pan on medium high heat, warm blueberries, honey, ginger and lemon zest for 2-3 minutes.
- Place softened goat cheese in small mixing bowl.
- Strain blueberries, saving blueberry juice.
- Gently stir blueberries into goat cheese.
- 6. Place reserved blueberry juice back into sauce pan and heat on med-high heat until thickened, about 10 minutes.
- 7. Once thickened, add juice to goat cheese mixture.
- 8. Roll out pie crust with rolling pin. Using a cookie cutter, cut out 12 sections.Place 1 tablespoon of goat cheese filling onto 6 of the sections. Place remaining sections on top of filling and use fork to fasten the top layer to the bottom.
- 9. Using a pastry brush, brush mini pies with cold milk. Shake on sugar sprinkles.
- 10. Place on baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
