Strawberry Hand Pies

Ingredients

• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 black peppercorns
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme, plus 1/2 teaspoon roughly chopped fresh thyme leaves, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters (or eighths if berries very large)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1 package (14 ounces) refrigerated pie crusts

Instructions

1. In small saucepan, stir together vinegar, water, 1 cup sugar, salt and peppercorns. Add thyme sprigs. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling; let boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over cut strawberries, until fully submerged in liquid. Cover and let sit at room temperature 4 to 8 hours. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line cookie pan with parchment paper.
2. Strain strawberries from pickling liquid and discard peppercorns and thyme. Toss berries with cornstarch until evenly coated. In small bowl, whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Unroll pie crusts and cut with 3 1/2-inch round cutter. Each crust yields 8 rounds. To assemble pies, top half of rounds with about 3 tablespoons of berry mixture each.
3. Brush edges of rounds with egg wash. Cut out a hole or pierce remaining rounds with fork. Place on top of berries. Using a fork, press edges of crusts together tightly to seal. Transfer to prepared cookie pan.
4. Brush tops of pies with egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake 18 to 22 minutes, or until pies are lightly golden and filling is bubbling. Cool slightly before serving.