At The Market | Concord Grapes and A Recipe for Concord Grape Hand Pies

I tasted my first concord grape when I was living in Paris. While perusing one of the outdoors markets, I came across this variety of grape that not only looked beautiful but when I tasted it, it was a flavor explosion. It tasted like grape juice but in whole form! Ever since, I seek them out each fall at the farmer’s market in New York and eat them as is or bake with them. I used to have an old website, before I started R&I, and I featured a concord grape recipe from Four & Twenty Blackbirds, a beloved pie shop in Brooklyn. I decided to take that inspiration and make hand pies that combine warming cinnamon and balsamic vinegar for a splash of acidity. These are delicious and dare I say, a grape addition to your Thanksgiving dessert table!

Concord Grape Hand Pies

Makes 6 to 7

Crust (Prepare A Day Ahead)

1 stick, plus 2 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, sliced into 1 inch discs

1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup ice water*

Filling

1 quart concord grapes

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Directions: Prepare the crust. Add ice cubes into one cup of water, set aside and prepare one long sheets of parchment paper to wrap the dough once finished. Begin by adding flour and salt to a medium mixing bowl. Add the butter and using your hands, or a pastry cutter, work butter into dough until it begins to come together. Add water* start by adding 1/2 cup at a time, if it still needs more liquid, add 1 tablespoon at a time until dough comes together. Make sure to not over-mix the dough, you don’t want to have gluten formation. When combined, place dough onto parchment paper and pat into a disk shape. Refrigerate overnight.

To Make the Filling: Prepare two medium bowls. Gently slip the skins away from the grapes by reserving and placing the insides into one bowl and the skins into another. Repeat until finished. Add the insides into a heavy bottomed sauce pan, and cook over medium heat until they break down—this should take about 7 minutes. When finished, place a sieve over a bowl and press through ensuring that all of the juice is extracted from the seeds. Pour juice into the reserved grape skins, add sugar, flour, balsamic vinegar, salt and cinnamon and stir to combine. Set aside.

To Assemble: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with the reserved parchment paper. Remove pie crust from refrigerator—keeping parchment for baking portion. Lightly flour a working surface and roll dough into a large circle, about 1/8 inch in thickness. Using a 4-inch diameter circle cookie cutter, cut out dough. Place a dollop of filling inside each and cover with another piece of cut out dough—if you need to slightly stretch it to cover the bottom you can, as it has some elasticity. Add remaining dough scraps into one piece and roll out dough, repeating process. Place onto baking sheet, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden. Dough will beautifully puff up. Let cool before enjoying!

Pie crust recipe was adapted from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz