Ham, Cheese & Peach Hand Pies

A perfect snacking meal for parties, lunches—and even breakfasts

What’s better than a classic ham and cheese? How about a combination of ham, cheese, and peaches? If your Instagram feed is full of food, like mine is, you’ve probably seen this combination a few times this summer. Salads full of ripe peaches, burrata, and prosciutto, in particular, seem to be having a moment.

Unfortunately, it’s been unseasonably cold here in the Bay Area these past few weeks (summer here is often depressing), so I’ve been leaning into dishes that give me the summery flavors I’m craving while also satisfying the need to serve something warm in the evenings, when the temperature drops. As a result, when I decided to tackle this flavor combination, I did something different: I baked the ham, cheese, and peaches all together in flakey, buttery hand pies.

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The key to making this dish quickly and easily is to lean into the convenience of store-bought pie crusts. I’m usually very picky about pie crusts—my mom was obsessive about them when I was growing up, so I always make mine from scratch—but when it comes to making quick hand pies, there’s nothing like a store-bought crust to speed things up. If you can find an option that’s not already in a tin (like Trader Joe’s version), that’s ideal, but if not, you can really just let the kind in the aluminum tins thaw until they’re malleable, then turn them out onto the counter, knead them very briefly to bring the dough together, and go from there. In fact, I kind of overworked the dough for these, and they still turned out pretty flakey (and really delicious).

Once you’ve rolled the dough back out (make it pretty thin!) you can cut it into 9cm (3 ½”) rounds with a ring cutter or biscuit cutter (or just the lip of a good jar). Layer half of the rounds with some French ham, a couple slices of ripe peach, and a generous pinch of Gruyere cheese, then season everything with lots of nutmeg and fresh thyme leaves. To top the pies, I re-roll the remaining rounds of dough just a bit, so that they’re a little bit wider than the bottom rounds and will drape over the ingredients and still have a little bit of room left so I can press the edges together with a fork. Then all they need is a little egg wash and about 25 minutes in the oven.

One of the things I love most about these hand pies is that they’re actually really forgiving. When I was testing them, the edges were rarely neat and pretty, and the top round of dough often broke apart when I put it into place. But none of that actually mattered to the final product. As long as I pressed the edges down reasonably well and pinched the largest holes shut, the pies themselves were absolutely gorgeous by the time they were ready to come out of the oven.

The real key to all of this is just to balance your flavors: The ham and cheese will taste stronger than the fruit once everything is baked, so you’ll want a pretty thick layer of peach. I slice mine into ¼”-thick rounds and then add two of these slices to each pie. The recipe below is written for 6 hand pies, but if you re-roll your dough, and cut up a very large peach, you can probably get 7 pies out of the ingredients (just add another ¾ ounce of ham and ½ ounce of Gruyere to your total amounts).

Ham, Cheese & Peach Hand Pies

Makes 6 hand pies

2 pre-made pie crusts, thawed
4½ ounces French-style ham
1 large peach
3 ounces grated gruyere cheese
Fresh thyme
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg, well beaten

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the pie crusts until they’re a little less than ¼” thick (turn them out of their tins and knead them a bit, if necessary) and use a 9cm- (3 ½”-) wide ring cutter, biscuit cutter, or jar to cut 12 rounds of dough, re-rolling the dough as necessary as you go. Transfer 6 rounds to a parchment-lined baking sheet and set the other 6 aside.

2. Tear the ham into small pieces and divide them between the six rounds on dough on the baking sheet. Cut the peach into slices about ¼” thick, trim them so that they’re about 2¾” wide, and stack two slices on top of each pile of ham. Top each stack with ⅙ of the cheese and season everything generously with thyme leaves and nutmeg.

3. Roll the remaining 6 rounds of dough out a bit more, so that they’re slightly wider and thinner but still pretty round. Drape these larger round over the piles of filling, and use the tines of a fork to seal up the edges of each pie. (It doesn’t matter if the edges don’t meet up evenly or if the crusts crack open a little as you go; just seal the edges well and pinch things together a bit—the cracks will act like natural vents as the pies cook.)

4. Brush some egg onto each pie and poke a couple holes into any pie that doesn’t have a natural crack in the top crust. Bake the pies until golden and starting to brown, about 25 minutes. Let them cool a bit before biting into them—they’ll be very hot!

Photos: Georgia Freedman