Strawberry Rhubarb Rosé Hand Pies
“Put That in Your Pocket” is a series of recipes showcasing the creative process of stuffing pockets full of leftovers to reduce food waste.
I don’t know about you, but if I see brightly hued fuchia stalks of rhubarb in the market, I run straight to them. And I buy them all. I’m the person you silently, or not-so-silently, curse when you see the sign for rhubarb hanging over an empty shelf. When you live in the South, these babies have a very short-lived season so you gotta get them while the getting’s good.
Recently, I bought a plethora of hot pink rhubarb weighing in at nearly two pounds and had to find something to do with them before they wilted in the back of my fridge. Staring into my fridge was like looking through a portal into another universe. I had a lot of strawberries, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, old rosé, and butter (I try not to keep this around because I would just eat it all up in the form of a shame stick) from a photoshoot earlier in the week. I had never made a strawberry-rhubarb anything, so I decided it was time to take on the classic flavor profile in the form of jam.
Here are the ingredients I ended up using for my strawberry rhubarb rosé jam:
- 7 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
- 2 cups strawberries, quartered
- 1 cup turbinado sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 lemon, zested
- Half vanilla bean, split + scraped
- 1 tsp rosé wine
- 1 tsp St. Germain
I chopped my rhubarb, quartered my strawberries, and plopped those in a pot. I added that ol’ rosé, which was acidic enough to bring out the tangy rhubarb flavor and add depth to the jam. A splash of St. Germain created a subtle yet distinct floral note and the turbinado sugar added dimension without being overly sweet. I zested my lemon into the pot and added the vanilla bean.
I let the mixture cook down on high heat for about 10-12 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching. Once it was nice, thick and jam-like, I took it off the heat and let it cool for about 30 minutes.
I adapted Hugh Acheson’s hand pie crust with King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour for these hand pies since I wanted a light, flaky and sweet—but not too sweet—pie crust. The dough made all my hand pie crust dreams come true and had a great contrasting flavor to my pot-lickin' jam. After dolloping roughly 2 tablespoons of jam onto half of the rounds, I placed another round on top of each one and crimped the layers together with a fork. I then poked the tops to let steam escape and brushed them with egg wash and sprinkled more beloved turbinado on top of each pie.
The 6.5 hand pies went into the oven at 400℉ for 20 minutes while my crazy Yorkie vacuumed the crust crumbs off the floor. I probably could’ve gotten 7-8 pies if the crust was rolled thinner, but I was far from disappointed with the results. In fact, they were so addictive I had to give away 5 of them to friends because I knew I’d eat them all before the sun set.
I have about 2 cups of jam left over, which I’m 100% cool with. It’s great on toast, plain greek yogurt or in dessert quesadillas.
