Cherry Hand Pie Donuts start with a can of refrigerated biscuits and end with something that tastes like the good booth at the county fair. You roll, fill, crimp, fry, glaze. 40 minutes, start to finish.
Here’s the thing about frying dough on an acreage. You do not do it privately. The second that oil hits 350°F, Han Solo materializes in the kitchen doorway like he’s been summoned by a ritual, and Jack Ryan takes up his position under the counter with the patient expression of a dog who believes gravity is on his side and always has been.
They’re not wrong, exactly. Things do fall.
But this recipe is worth the audience. It’s a hand pie and a donut at the same time, which sounds like a compromise and is actually just greed with a plan. The biscuit dough puffs and blisters in the oil. The cherry filling goes jammy and hot. The glaze cracks a little when you bite through it.
And the whole thing rests on one skill: sealing the edges properly. That’s it. That’s the recipe. Everything else is just cheerful chaos. Roll them thin and crimp them like you mean it.
What You Need
- Refrigerated biscuits (1 can, 16 ounces, 10 biscuits): Grands or any flaky layers style works. Don’t use the small buttermilk biscuits, they’re too little to roll out to 5 inches without tearing. Keep them cold until the second you’re ready to roll.
- Cherry pie filling (¾ cup): Canned is what this recipe is built on. If you want to use homemade, make sure it’s thick and fully cooled, because loose filling is how you end up with cherry soup in your oil.
- Vegetable oil (for frying): Canola or peanut oil work too. You want a neutral oil with a high smoke point.
- Powdered sugar (1½ cups): Sift it if it’s clumpy. Nobody wants a glaze with gravel in it.
- Milk (3 tablespoons): Whole milk gives you the best opacity, but any milk works.
- Vanilla extract (½ teaspoon): Standard.
- Almond extract (¼ teaspoon): This is the one doing the heavy lifting. Cherry and almond are old friends. A quarter teaspoon is plenty, it’s loud stuff.
How To Make Cherry Hand Pie Donuts
Separate the can into 10 biscuits. On a lightly floured surface, roll each one out into a circle about 5 inches wide. Thin is what you want here. It gives you room to fill and fold, and it keeps the finished donut from turning into a bready hockey puck.
Spoon about 1 tablespoon of cherry pie filling onto one half of each circle and leave a clear border around the edge. Resist the urge to be generous. Overfilling is the number one way these blow out in the oil, and cherry filling at 350°F is not something you want to meet.
Fold each circle in half over the filling to make a half moon. Press the edges together firmly with your fingers, then go around again with a fork and crimp. A tight seal is the whole game. Any gap and the filling leaks straight into the pot.
Pour 2 inches of vegetable oil into a heavy pot and bring it to 350°F (175°C). Use a thermometer. Too cool and they drink the oil, too hot and the outside browns before the dough is cooked through. This is the step where an actual thermometer earns its keep.
Fry in batches for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until they’re deep golden brown and cooked all the way through. Turn them gently. They’re sealed, not welded.
Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack set over paper towels. Let them sit for about 5 minutes. Glaze on a hot donut just slides off and pools on the counter, where it will be located and dealt with by a doodle within seconds.
While they cool, whisk together the 1½ cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and ¼ teaspoon almond extract until smooth.
Dip the top of each donut into the glaze, or dunk the whole thing if you’re in that kind of mood, and set them back on the rack to let the glaze set.
Tips
- Roll the dough thinner than feels necessary. It puffs a lot.
- Fry 2 or 3 at a time, no more. Crowding the pot drops the oil temperature and you’ll get pale, greasy donuts.
- If one does spring a leak, pull it out and skim the oil before the next batch. Burnt cherry bits will make everything after it taste scorched.
- Set your cooling rack up before you start frying, not during. Hot oil is not the time to be opening cupboards.
- These are best the day they’re made. Fried dough has a short and glorious life.
Variations
- Swap the cherry filling for apple, blueberry, or peach. Apple wants a pinch of cinnamon in the glaze.
- Skip the glaze and toss the hot donuts in cinnamon sugar instead. Different animal, still excellent.
- Add a little lemon zest to the glaze if you want to cut the sweetness.
Try These Recipes Next
- Coconut Cream Pie Bars
- No Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
- Pineapple Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Maple Fudge
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies with Cream Cheese Glaze
Cherry Hand Pie Donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 10 refrigerated biscuits, 16 ounces
- ¾ cup cherry pie filling
- vegetable oil, for frying
For the glaze
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Separate the can of biscuits into 10 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each biscuit out into a circle about 5 inches wide. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of cherry pie filling onto one half of each circle, leaving a clear border around the edge. Do not overfill, since too much filling will burst out during frying.
- Fold each circle in half over the filling to make a half moon. Press the edges together firmly with your fingers, then crimp them with a fork to seal. A tight seal is the whole game here, any gap and the filling leaks into the oil.
- Pour 2 inches of vegetable oil into a heavy pot and heat it to 350°F (175°C). Getting the temperature right matters, too cool and they soak up grease, too hot and they brown before the dough cooks through.
- Working in batches, fry the hand pies for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until deep golden brown and cooked through. Turn them gently so they do not split. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack set over paper towels. Let them cool for about 5 minutes, since glaze on a hot donut just slides right off.
- Whisk together the 1½ cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and ¼ teaspoon almond extract until smooth.
- Dip the top of each hand pie donut into the glaze, or dunk them fully for more coverage, then set them back on the rack to let the glaze set.
Recipe Notes
- Biscuit type: use a flaky layers or Grands style biscuit. Small buttermilk biscuits are too little to roll out to 5 inches.
- Oil temperature: keep it at 350°F (175°C) between batches. The temperature drops every time you add dough, so let it come back up.
- Sealing: crimp with a fork and press firmly. This is the difference between a hand pie and a mess.
- Storage: best the day they’re made. Leftovers keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day.
Nutrition Information
Frequently Asked Questions
You can, but they won’t be donuts anymore, they’ll be baked hand pies. Brush them with melted butter and bake at 375°F (190°C) for about 15 minutes. Still good, just a different texture.
Yes. Brush them lightly with oil and air fry at 350°F (175°C) for about 8 minutes, flipping halfway. They’ll be drier than fried but a lot less work to clean up.
Either you overfilled or the seal wasn’t tight. One tablespoon is the max, and the fork crimp isn’t decorative.
I’d assemble them ahead and keep them covered in the fridge for a few hours before frying. I wouldn’t fry them ahead, they lose their crunch fast.
Vegetable, canola, or peanut. Anything neutral with a high smoke point.
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