Cooking with Ease by Melissa Tate: Love Letter Hand Pies

ROCKWALL, TX – February 5, 2021 — Love letters are a lost art. Email began to replace written word, quickly followed by the text message – some even giving the sender an immediate “read” so they know the recipient has seen the note. Can you imagine the vulnerability one had to have in sending a love letter, not knowing if the recipient felt the same, if they’d respond, or worse… if they had even received it? The torture!

This month, I wanted to share a few things: some famous love letters to remind us of just how beautiful the written word is, a super easy Love Letter Hand Pie recipe, and some encouragement to find someone to write a love letter to. And hopefully share a hand pie. Happy Loving Month, friends. There are so many things to love.

Dearest Angel Girl:

…I suppose most of us are lonely in this big world, but we must fall tremendously in love to find it out. The cure is the discovery of our need for company – I mean company in the very special sense we’ve come to understand since we happened to each other – you and I. The pleasures of human experience are emptied away without that companionship – now that I’ve known it; without it joy is just an unendurable as sorrow. You are my life – my very life. Never imagine your hope approximates what you are to me. Beautiful, precious little baby – hurry up the sun! – make the days shorter till we meet. I love you, that’s all there is to it.

Your boy, Orson (Orson Welles to Rita Hayworth)

I don’t know how to tell you just how much I miss you. I love you till my heart could burst. All I love, all I want, all I need is you-forever. I want to be just where you are and be just what you want me to be. I know it’s lousy of me to be so late so often, and I promise to try a million times harder, I promise. Love, Marilyn (Marilyn Monroe to Joe DiMaggio)

Princess, We get old and get used to each other. We think alike. We read each others minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe sometimes take each other for granted. But once in awhile, like today, I meditate on it and realize how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much. John (Johnny Cash to June Carter Cash)

Love,

Melissa

Love Letter Hand Pies

Ingredients

1 box refrigerated pie crust
Flour for rolling out dough
Strawberry jam
Egg white with one egg
1/4 cup sugar, for sprinkling
Paring knife
Miniature heart shaped cookie cutter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out one pie crust. Use a rolling pin to roll out a bit more, giving yourself more surface area to work with.
Using a paring knife, cut out long diamond shapes, about 5 inches on each side. I cut a piece of paper to be used as a template.You can see my “envelopes” are tall and skinny, you can play around with your template to get the exact shape you want.
Once you have cut all the diamonds you can from the crust, do the same with the next crust and place all on the baking sheet.
Put about 1 Tbsp of strawberry jam in the center of each diamond, spread out a bit and then fold 3 sides of your “envelope.”
Using a miniature heart cookie cutter, cut out one heart for each hand pie and place it in the center of the pie.
Brush each pie with egg, sprinkle with sugar and bake 14-16 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes and then serve to someone you love.

By Melissa Tate of Rockwall, as published in Blue Ribbon News February Valentine’s 2021 print edition.