Are you into floral flavours? I could never get into rosewater, but I’ve always loved lavender. It pairs beautifully with berries, and if you can find Dry Soda brand they make a lavender seltzer that goes incredibly well with gin ;).

You can find lavender flowers for cooking most places now, I found mine in Harris Teeter in their own brand of spices. If you can’t find any locally amazon is your best friend! And honestly, if you wanna skip it entirely there’s nothing wrong with delicious blueberry handpies without!

What you need:

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup more or less of ice water

Filling:

• 1 pint (2 cups) fresh or frozen blueberries
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/3 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1 heaped tbsp dried lavender flowers
• 1 egg yolk + 2 tbsp water for egg wash
• 2-3 tbsp coarse sugar for topping

First begin by making the crust as it needs some time in the fridge.

1. In a large bowl combine flower, sugar and salt. With a pastry cutter, or cold finger tips, break up butter so its the size of small peas. Add water until dough comes together, if there’s a few dry bits that’s ok. It’ll distribute moisture when it’s resting in the fridge.
2. Lay out some plastic wrap and place dough mixture in center, form into a disc and cover tightly with wrap. Place in fridge for an hour.

Onto the filling!

1. In a small heat proof bowl, place lavender flowers and crush them lightly, if you have a mortar and pestle this is great for it! Pour boiling water over and let sit a few minutes. If you really want super strong lavender flavour, skip this step and just put 1 tbsp flowers in the mix.
2. In a large pot or saucepan add blueberries, cornstarch, sugar, salt and lavender water. Cook over medium heat until blueberries have burst and mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. This will thicken significantly as it cools but if you feel like it’s too liquidy or had some hefty blueberries, add an additional tbsp of cornstarch. Let cool completely.

Assembly!
Preheat oven to 425F

1. On a well floured surface roll dough to 1/8″ thickness and cut 16 squares or rounds out with a 3 3/4″ cutter. You may have to re-roll the dough a few times, it’ll hold up and still be nice so don’t worry too much about over working it. Otherwise feel free to make these whatever size you wish.
2. Divide the rounds into tops and bottoms. Take the tops and either slice an X into the top of each or use a smaller cookie cutter to make a small vent in the top. To save a mess do this BEFORE you place the tops on. I used a heart cutter I had laying around.
3. On a large parchment lined baking sheet place 8 bottom rounds and put about 2 heaped tbsp of filling onto each.
4. Whisk egg yolk and water together in a small bowl and brush lightly around the edges of the bottom halves, place the top half on top, seal edges with a fork and repeat.
5. Gently brush each top with remaining egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
6. Place in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until pies are golden brown and filling as oozed out the top.
7. Let cool completely.

Enjoy!

You WILL have leftover filling with this so don’t panic, it’s better to err on the side of under filling these than making a big ol mess. Besides, this filling IS SO GOOD on ice cream, used as jam or eaten by the spoonful while making these!