Blueberry Hand Pies

Ingredients

• 1 package (2 crusts) refrigerated pie dough, or a double batch of homemade dough
• 2 cups thick cooked blueberry filling (blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, cooked down until thick)
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
• 2 tbsp coarse sugar, for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Roll out the dough and cut into 5-inch rounds (or squares).
3. Spoon a small amount of the 2 cups thick cooked blueberry filling (blueberries filling onto one half of each round, leaving a border, then fold over and crimp the edges shut with a fork.
4. Arrange the hand pies on the prepared sheet, brush with the egg wash, sprinkle with coarse sugar, and cut a small slit in the top of each.
5. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Cool slightly before serving.

The Tale of Blueberry Hand Pies

Story updated September 18, 2026

Blueberries are native to North America and were gathered and dried by Native American communities long before European contact, who used them fresh, dried, and pounded into staples like pemmican. Colonists adopted the berry readily, and it became especially associated with New England and the Upper Midwest, regions where wild blueberries still grow abundantly. Blueberry hand pies belong to the same general American tradition as other fruit hand pies, small, portable pastries that Scots-Irish, English, and other settlers adapted from old-world turnovers and pasties, using whatever fruit was seasonally or regionally abundant. Because blueberries hold their shape and sweetness well when cooked, they became a natural filling for both baked and fried hand pies in blueberry-growing regions, particularly Maine, which remains the largest wild blueberry producer in the United States. As with most hand pie variations, there is no documented single origin point for the blueberry version specifically; it developed informally over generations of home baking rather than through any known inventor or recipe.