Sour cherry hand pies, fried and baked

Roll one portion of pie dough out to a 12 inch square, trim about half an inch all round to an 11 inch square and cut into four equal quadrants of about five and a half inches.

Transfer the squares to a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate; repeat with the second portion.

Pre-cook the filling so it is thick and reduced, because frying gives the juices no time to thicken as an oven would.

Combine the thawed cherries and their juices with the sugar and salt in a large sauce pan.

Cook over medium high heat to a boil to dissolve the sugar, then simmer a minute or two until the cherries collapse and give off their juices.

Drain the cherries in a strainer set over a bowl and return the juice to the pot.

Reduce the juice to around three quarters of a cup, about five to ten minutes, adding any further juice that drains from the cherries.

Stir the cool water into the cornstarch to make a slurry.

Off the heat, stream the slurry into the hot juice while whisking constantly, then bring back to a boil and whisk until it thickens to the consistency of jam and holds its shape.

Stir in the lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla, then fold the drained cherries back in.

Stir the filling in the metal sauce pan over a bowl of ice water until at least room temperature, about two minutes, then scrape into a small bowl.

Orient a square as a diamond, spread a scant scoop of filling over one half, leaving a clean border.

Brush the border with water, fold the top half over on the diagonal, line up the points and press to seal, pressing out any big air bubbles.

Crimp about half an inch in with the tines of a fork and straighten the edges with a bench scraper or knife.

Freeze each formed pie and repeat for all eight squares.

Variation, baked: seal with beaten egg instead of water, brush the tops with the rest of the egg, sprinkle with demerara sugar and cut a one inch slit down the centre.

Bake the egg-washed pies at 375F; hers took 43 minutes.

Fry the frozen pies two at a time at about 350F, lowering them in gently and moderating the heat to hold the temperature, flipping once browning shows.

Whisk the powdered sugar with the milk, vanilla and lemon juice to a pourable but opaque glaze, thinning drop by drop if needed.

Let the glaze drop off the whisk onto the fried pies; it re-hardens quickly.