Sweet Cream Cheese Hand Pies
Cream cheese hand pies are the iconic Ramadan dessert which are hard to resist! Doused in a rosewater simple syrup and topped with sesame seeds, they strike a delightful balance of tanginess from the cream cheese and sweetness from the syrup.
Servings 12 pies
Ingredients
Simple Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
Cream Cheese Hand Pies
- 6 cubes (108 g) cream cheese
- 1 ½ sheets puff pastry
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.Reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved, the syrup is clear, and has slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.
- Using a sharp knife, or pizza cutter, cut the puff pastry into nine equal squares (approximately 8cm x 8cm or 3" x 3"). Cut three more squares from the second sheet of puff pastry. Return unused portion to the freezer.
- Cut Kiri cream cheese squares in half diagonally to form a triangle. Alternatively, cut 108g of cream cheese from a block into 12 bite sized pieces.
- Place cream cheese pieces on the puff pastry and fold over the puff pastry to encase the filling. Seal tightly with a fork and top with sesame seeds.Arrange on a lined baking tray and freeze the hand pies while the oven preheats to help prevent any filling from leaking out.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC fan forced oven (355ºF) for 10 minutes, then increase the temperature to 200ºC (390ºF) and bake for a further 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Garnish with rose petals, if desired. Drizzle with simple syrup and serve immediately.
Notes
Top tip: to avoid your pies becoming soggy drizzle simple syrup only on pies that will be eaten immediately. Pies are best eaten the day they are baked, but can be reheated in an air fryer or oven at 180ºC fan forced for about 6 minutes.