easy as pie - whole grain chocolate hand pies
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 8:44PM I take no credit for these
I snagged the general idea from my friend Deanna's post on the #chocolatelove blog hop that started on Saturday. My version is way over simplified. I can't wait to make her original version. But in a last minute strike of a sweet tooth, I decided to introduce the small squares of dark chocolate in my pantry to the extra half of pizza dough leftover after I made this for lunch
The chocolate hand pies are nothing more than a circle of my whole wheat pizza dough, rolled flat and folded over two miniature squares of dark chocolate; sealed, sprayed with a bit of oil & sprinkled with turbinado sugar, then baked at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. (Note: 1 recipe of the pizza dough made the medium pizza shown here + 5 hand pies).
As an aside, I'm oddly fascinated by the names different cultures give to their folded dough concoctions - calzones, empanadas, hand pies, dumplings. Growing up, my grandmother (my Mom's mom... not "Ween", for those of you who have been around here for a while) used to make fried apple pies. And they are everything you think they'd be. Wretchedly excessive in calories and equally as delicious.
What about you? What's your favorite folded dough delight?
***
Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (around 110 degrees)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon fast rise yeast
- 360g (about 2 2/3 cups) white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
Pour water into liquid measuring cup; add honey and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.
Combine flour & salt in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Add yeast water and mix on low speed until combined. Add olive oil and continue mixing until blended. Knead dough on medium-low speed 5 minutes or until dough forms a smooth, elastic ball.
Place ball of dough into an oiled bowl and turn to coat (or use cooking spray). Cover bowl with plastic wrap or moist dish cloth. Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm area free from drafts (a barely warm oven, turned off, with a steaming cup of water inside & door closed works great).
