Nutella Heart Hand Pies with Cream Cheese Pastry Crust for Valentine’s Day

Serve some love with these Heart Hand Pies with chocolate hazelnut filling for Valentine’s Day.

Happy February!

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, I’m serving heart hand pies in celebration! These Nutella-filled hand pies have a flaky and delicious cream cheese pastry crust and are perfect for Valentine’s Day or an afternoon pick-me-up with a cup of tea!

This recipe is a sweet repeat from the archives but worth a second serving! I used my favorite pie crust recipe with cream cheese for these heart hand pies. The dough comes together quickly in the food processor and rolls out like a dream. You can make the dough in advance and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cut out, fill and bake! This cream cheese pie crust bakes up flaky and oh so good, but you feel free to substitute store-bought pie crust or frozen puff pastry for a time saver.

Fill these hand pies with Nutella or chocolate-hazelnut spread straight from the jar! I was careful not to overfill them and I could have added a little more. I used about 2 tablespoons per heart for my 3 1/2 inch cookie cutters. I was able to get 10 hand pies, rerolling the dough scraps, from one recipe of cream cheese pie crust. You could also top the hazelnut spread with a spoonful of strawberry or raspberry preserves or cherry pie filling. If you’re filling these hand pies with fruit, make sure you cut a vent for the steam to escape. 

Place your pastry hearts on a parchment lined baking sheet. Add hazelnut filling in the center of the heart and brush some egg wash (egg beaten with a tablespoon of water) around the edges of the filling and top with a pastry heart. Use a fork to crimp and seal the edges of each pie.

Brush tops with additional egg wash and sprinkle with sanding or regular sugar. Bake pies at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer pies to wire rack to cool 10 – 15 minutes and serve.

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened (Neufchatel, 1/3 less fat works equally well, don’t use fat free cream cheese here)

1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small cubes

Pulse all ingredients together in food processor until dough comes together.

Divide into two portions, and shape into flat disks. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes – 1 hour, until firm or overnight. Pull out to warm up briefly before rolling out.

Serve these Heart Hand Pies with a cup of your favorite tea . . .

And stir your cuppa with a sweet heart demitasse spoon!

Print Recipe

Nutella Heart Hand Pies with Cream Cheese Pastry Crust

Nutella-filled cream cheese hand pies are a perfect sweet treat for Valentine’s Day! Make the cream cheese pastry a day ahead fill with chocolate hazelnut spread straight from the jar for a warm hand pie and chocolate-filled treat!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

chill time 1 hour1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate hazelnut spread, hand pie, Valentine's Day

Servings: 10 (3 ½ inch) hand pies

Equipment

• 1 food processor
• 1 3 1/2 inch heart cookie cutter

Ingredients

• Jar Nutella or Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
• Cream Cheese Pastry Crust Recipe
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Sanding sugar or regular sugar optional

Cream Cheese Pastry Crust

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 8 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese, softened use full fat or Neufchatel, not fat free
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Instructions

Cream Cheese Pastry Crust:

• Pulse all ingredients together in food processor until dough comes together.
• Divide dough into two portions, and shape into flat disks. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes – 1 hour, until firm or overnight.
• Allow to warm up briefly at room temperature (about 20 minutes) before rolling out.

To make hand pies:

• On lightly floured surface, roll out dough.
• Using 3 ½ inch heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out hearts with cookie cutter. Reroll dough scraps and repeat and until you have 20 hearts.
• Place 10 hearts on a parchment lined baking sheet. Add hazelnut filling in the center of the heart, leaving ½ inch border. Brush edges of pastry with egg wash (egg beaten with a tablespoon of water) and top with a pastry heart.
• Use a fork to crimp and seal the edges of each hand pie.
• Brush tops with additional egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar or regular sugar.
• Bake pies at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Transfer pies to wire rack and allow to cool 10 - 15 minutes and serve.

Notes

• This cream cheese pastry comes together quickly with a food processor. You can make it a couple of days in advance and refrigerate until ready to roll out. Allow 20 minutes at room temperature before rolling out. 
• Substitute store-bought pie crust or frozen puff pastry if you prefer.
• Top the hazelnut spread with a spoonful of strawberry or raspberry preserves if desired, being careful not to overfill hearts.
• Optional: Dust hand pies with confectioners sugar after cooling pies slightly before serving.

Optional: Dust your pies with a little powdered sugar after they’ve cooled a bit to serve.

Find 14+ Sweets & Treats for your Valentine’s Day Celebration, HERE.

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