Easy Peach Hand Pies (or..."Peach Pie-lets")

My friend Teresa has asked me (...'encouraged me') more than once when I am going to start teaching cooking classes. I think she just wants to get more experience and learn some new recipes and tips! :) (Besides...though it could be fun to teach cooking classes occasionally, I already have a full time job, and a second part-time -- VERY part-time -- side hustle. I don't need a 3rd job!) Last time she mentioned it, I invited her out to bake and told her we'd call it a "pilot" class. She's been experimenting with baking pies; we decided try a hand-pie recipe and call it our "pie-let pilot" baking day! 

We used a Cooking Light recipe as a guide. It called for store bought dough, but I had some of my own in the freezer -- whole wheat even, which is what was recommended. Whole wheat is not as pliable, however, and produced more cracks in these folded over half-moon pies. I'd play with the recipe or use less whole wheat. And the fruit-to-crust ratio is slight on the fruit side, in my opinion. That's probably inevitable with this style and size, but again, this was our first try with "pie-let" hand pies.

Teresa had saved something on Pinterest that showed glazed pies...so I whipped up some powdered sugar vanilla glaze we drizzled over our pies to dress them up a bit (and hide some of the cracks). Fun day! :)

Ingredients (for 8 hand pies)
1 9-inch frozen whole wheat piecrust, thawed*
¾ C chopped peaches
3 T light brown sugar
1 T unslated butter
¼ t ground cinnamon
1 egg
turbinado or other coarse sugar

* I used my own dough, made with this recipe but using 2 C whole wheat and 1 C all purpose flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 400° F.

Peel, pit and chop peaches. In a medium bowl, mix chopped peaches with brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.

Roll out pie dough; use a 4" round cookie cutter to cut circles; gather scraps and re-roll as needed to cut 8 circles. (Or...divide dough into 8 equal portions; roll each into a 4" circle.)

Spoon about a tablespoon of chopped peach mixture onto each dough circle. Moisten dough edges with water; fold circle in half over peach mixture. crimpe edges with a fork to seal securely.

Place pies on parchment lined baking sheets. Pierce with a fork (or make a small slit with a sharp knife).

Beat egg in a small bowl; brush on pies. Sprinkle generously wiht coarse sugar.

Bake at 400° F until golden brown (about 14 minutes). Let cool slightly before serving...or glazing.

Simple Powdered Sugar Glaze: ½ C powdered sugar, pinch salt, ½ t vanilla and just enough milk to achieve a drizzling consistency.