My Christmas Tree Hand Pies are as adorable as it gets! These little handheld pies are filled with delicious cheesecake surrounded with pie crust and adorned with sprinkles that look like Christmas lights. This holiday dessert idea is sure to get everyone’s attention! Save the recipe now because I’m positive that people will ask how you made them. The best part – it’s very easy!
Christmas Tree Hand Pies
If you love pie, if you love pastries, if you love cheesecake, and if you love holiday desserts – then this pretty recipe is just for you! Get the kids involved because this easy Christmas dessert is not only fun to make, they are also fun to eat!
Made with pie crust, cheesecake, and sprinkles, these individual pies are just what this holiday season needs. We make them with Christmas trees, but feel free to get creative and use various holiday-shaped cookie cutters and sprinkles.
Ingredients for Handheld Cheesecake Pies
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Refrigerated Pie Crust
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Cream Cheese
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Egg
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Powdered Sugar
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Sprinkles
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Green Food Coloring
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Star Shaped Sprinkles
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Karo Syrup
Begin by rolling out the pie crust. Because this crust is premade, designed to fit directly into a pie dish, it rolls out beautifully! You will need a Christmas tree cookie cutter, or your holiday cookie cutter(s) of choice, that are smaller in size. Make your pies a little bigger if your cookie cutters are larger in size! Cut the pie crust in rectangles according to the size of your cookie cutters.
Our mini Christmas pies are 3″ x 4″. After cutting the pie crust to size, fill the middle with homemade cheesecake. What is cheesecake made of? Cream cheese, egg, and powdered sugar. What makes the trees green though? Oh, that’s simple! Just a few drops of food coloring!
Use the tip of a spoon to create a beautiful scalloped design around each Christmas Tree Hand Pie. By making the scallops, you’re also sealing together the top sheet with the bottom sheet, preventing the cheesecake stuffing from spilling out while baking.
Christmas Tree Hand Pies
Finally, bake the hand pies for 10-15 minutes or until they are slightly golden. The baking time depends on the size of your pies. After 10 minutes, keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven with the edges being turning golden. They will continue to bake as they cool on the baking dish.
While they are cooling, add small sprinkles to the trees to look like Christmas lights! How do you get the star sprinkle to stick on the top of each tree? Simple! Add a tiny bit of Karo Syrup to the back of each star. The syrup acts like glue to keep it in place on the pie crust! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
More Christmas Desserts by Smart School House to Try Next:
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Button Cookies
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Poky Christmas Trees
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Christmas Crackers
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Holiday Punch
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Christmas Tree Pull-Apart Cheesy Bread
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Snowball Cookies
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Christmas Trees Made with Pretzels
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Grinch Skewers
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Strawberry Santas
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Meringue Christmas Trees
Christmas Tree Hand Pies
You Will Need
- 1 Box of refrigerated Pie Crust (contains two pieces)
- 8 oz. of Cream Cheese
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- Small Sprinkles
- Star-shaped sprinkles
- Green Food Coloring
- Karo Syrup
Other Supplies Needed:
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Small pot to make the cheesecake filling
- Bowl to whisk the egg
- Spoon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- In a small pot over low heat, melt the cream cheese slowly until it is smooth
- Remove from heat
- Mix in the powdered sugar until combined
- Add food coloring until the desired shade of green is achieved (3-4 drops of gel coloring is what I use)
- In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg
- Add the egg to the warm cream cheese – stir until creamy
- Be sure that the cheese is not hot, as you do not want to egg to cook!
- Cut the pie crust into 3″ x 4″ rectangles
- You can make larger rectangles if needed based on your cookie cutter size (add more baking time)
- Stamp 1/2 of the rectangles with a Christmas tree cookie cutter
- The crust comes in a circle shape, so it will require extra rolling of the dough to create as many rectangles as possible
- Add the extra Christmas tree-shaped dough into the extra pie crust and use the rolling pin to spread the crust out as needed
- Add 1-2 spoonfuls of Cheesecake filling to the bottom portion of each hand pie
- Place the top part of the hand pie (with the Christmas tree cutout) over the cheesecake filling
- Use a spoon to press around the edges, creating a pretty scalloped look
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges become golden
- Larger size hand pies will need more baking time.
- As the hand pies cool, add sprinkles to the Christmas trees
- Apply a tiny coat of Karyo Syrup to the back of each star sprinkle and then place them on the tops of the trees.
- The Kayro Syrup dries like glue, keeping the stars in place!
