Blueberry Brûlée Hand Pies – a pie iron, campfire recipe
Blueberry Brûlée Hand Pies are toasty hand pies with sweet crème brûlée and blueberry pie filling cooked in the campfire in a cast iron pie iron. These creamy blueberry hand pies will be the hit of your next adventure!
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Why these hand pies are special
I won’t get into all the details of the how and why I first made these blueberry hand pies… That I was camping for the first time with my puppy. That her name is Clover, she’s a 5-month-old German short-haired pointer puppy, and she’s just the cutest thing on the planet… But that did happen. And, whilst camping, I wanted a sweet, campfire dessert, so I grabbed my pie iron, and these blueberry brûlée hand pies were the result.
What makes this hand pie recipe special is the brûlée! Making hand pies in campfire pie irons with bread and fruit pie filling is nothing new. In fact, after grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit filled hand pies is probably how pie irons are most often used.
But using the insanely tasty backpacker brûlée and Pepperidge Farm Swirl bread is what sends these hand pies over the top. The backpacker brûlée is super easy to prepare, and the Swirl bread is the perfect size – and perfect flavor – for a fun, easy, and gloriously tasty dessert while camping.
What is a pie iron
Pie irons are simple tools, perfect for cooking toasty sandwiches, hand pies, tater tots, calzones, etc., directly in a campfire. They are essentially two formed plates of cast iron on long handles, into which we can assemble anything we want to toast in the fire. They are fun but also quite versatile for creating all sorts of kid-friendly, family-loving, sweet or savory nibbles whilst camping.
About the ingredients
- Pepperidge Farm Lemon Blueberry Swirl Bread. This is what I used but if not available, any other flavor of this Swirl line will work for pie irons. The best part is that the bread is perfectly sized for pie irons.
- Blueberry pie filling. I prefer the “more fruit” pie fillings to have more blueberries and less sauce.
- Water to make the brûlée.
- Cooking spray to keep the hand pie from sticking in the pie iron and to help it toast.
- Backpacker’s Pantry Creme Brûlée. See the recipe card below for where to find this product which is easily available from a number of sources as well as a suggested alternative.
When I backpack, I bring dehydrated meals where I just heat water in the backcountry and rehydrate my dinner rather than “cook” per se. This way, I don’t have mess to clean up, and it helps me adhere to Leave No Trace principles. This is how I discovered Backpacker Brûlée which is surprisingly tasty, ridiculously easy to make, and perfect for these blueberry hand pies.
Tips for making dessert hand pies in a pie iron
Pie irons come either single- or double-sized. I recommend single pie irons for this recipe. I also recommend getting more than one so that everyone isn’t waiting on just one iron to do its thing in the fire.
Pie irons can be placed directly into hot coals, or they can be placed off to the side of hot coals to slow cooking. They can also be placed over the fire on a grill grate. The key is that we want to toast the bread and heat the filling without burning the bread. That said, a little scorch is fine! Kind of like burnt marshmallows when making s’mores. We are, after all, cooking in fire.
While only the cast iron goes in/near the fire, the handles can still get hot. I find that my toughened hands are fine, but you may want a potholder or two handy in case. This is especially true if little ones are around.
It is tempting to load up the hand pie with filling but once cooked, these can be difficult and MESSY to eat if there is too much filling. Just be judicious with a couple spoonfuls each pie filling and brûlée.
Want another pie iron recipe? Check out my buttery garlic parmesan Pie Iron Tater Tots. This is a great savory pie iron recipe, but also this post has even more TIPS for pie iron campfire cooking.
And lastly, don’t forget a can opener!
Suggested fruit hand pie variations
- I used lemon blueberry Swirl bread for this recipe. However, Pepperidge Farm has a number of flavors in this Swirl bread product line, and any would work wonderfully in pie iron hand pies. These bread slices are literally the perfect size for single pie irons.
- In addition to different bread varieties, you can change up the pie filling. A couple combinations I love include:
- apple pie filling, brûlée, and caramel brioche Swirl bread
- cherry pie filling, brûlée, and French toast Swirl bread
- peach pie filling, brûlée, and lemon blueberry Swirl bread
- peanut butter, strawberry pie filling, and cinnamon Swirl bread (no brûlée required here)
Blueberry Brûlée Hand Pies
Equipment
- spoon for mixing the brûlée and for making the hand pies
- optional: potholder for the pie iron handles, which don't go in the fire but they can still get hot
Ingredients
- 12 slices Pepperidge Farm Lemon Blueberry Swirl Bread or other flavor of Pepperidge Farm Swirl Bread such as Brown Sugar Cinnamon, French Toast, or Caramel Brioche
- 21 oz blueberry pie filling
- 1 pkg Backpacker's Pantry Creme Brûlée – Freeze Dried Backpacking & Camping Food see Notes
- ¾ cup water 180 ml
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Get a campfire going to have good, hot coals.
- Prepare the Backpacker's Pantry Creme Brûlée according to package directions. Note that it is prepared by adding water into the package with the brûlée mix and stirring with a spoon; no bowl or whisk is needed.
- On one slice of bread, spread a couple spoonfuls of blueberry pie filling.
- On another slice of bread, spread a couple spoonfuls of the prepared creme brûlée.
- Put the blueberry and brûlée sides of the bread slices together to form a sandwich.
- Open the pie iron and spray well with cooking spray. Add the hand pie, close the pie iron, and lock shut.
- Put the cast iron portion of the pie iron directly into the fire, off to the side of very hot coals, or over top the flames on a grill grate. Placement isn't as important because this will vary with your fire. What is crucial is checking regularly (just open the pie iron to check the toasty-ness of the bread) and turning the pie iron often for even cooking. Once the cast iron gets hot, the bread will toast quickly and burn if left too long.
- Once bread is nice and toasted, enjoy carefully as filling may be quite hot.
