Chocolate Fried Pies
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Old-fashioned, made from scratch, chocolate fried pies have no equal. Each fried pie includes a soft flaky outside and the most scrumptious chocolate filling inside.
In the fried pie world, I have two favorites: fried peach pies and old-fashioned chocolate fried pies. For an amazing peach pie like my great-grandmother made, you have to start with dried peaches. Fresh or canned just can’t pack the wallop of flavor that dried ones do. And for fried chocolate pies like I grew up with, you have to make your own chocolate paste out of sugar, butter, and cocoa powder. This is what my Aunt Sue does and you have to use the recipe that I put in my first cookbook like I’m sharing with you here.
My chocolate fried pie recipe is pretty simple to follow, but the results are mouthwateringly good. I mean, can anyone really say no to a rich and decadent chocolate filling wrapped in a flaky pie crust and dusted with sugar? I think not! I’ve heard people say they’re like chocolate pop tarts but better.
The first step is to make the pie dough, using shortening, milk, salt, and all-purpose flour. Then we make the pie filling I mentioned above. Next, pop the paste into the dough to make your pies, and then we fry them! In a few minutes, you’ll have perfectly crisp and flavorful chocolate fried pies. I can’t wait for you to give them a go! They’re irresistible yet so easy to make, which is a win-win situation when it comes to dessert, right?
Now let’s make some chocolate hand pies!
Recipe Ingredients
Crust
- Shortening (like Crisco or coconut oil, I’m using generic)
- Milk
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
Filling
- Sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Chocolate Fried Pies
Place flour, salt, and shortening in a medium bowl. Stir together really well and then cut the shortening into the flour with a long-tined fork.
Or a pastry cutter if you’re feeling fancy.
Pour milk into the flour mixture.
Stir it up really well.
You may need to add more milk, and that is perfectly okay. Add a tablespoon or so at a time until it forms a ball of dough.
Divide that up into 10 ball-shaped portions.
In a separate medium bowl, place melted butter, sugar, and cocoa powder.
Stir it up really well. It will form a paste.
Note: This is a gritty chocolate paste and it is utterly delicious.
Alright, now we need to take each of those dough balls and make them into a 6-inch (or so) circle.
Now place about 2 tablespoons of filling in the center of each.
THEN, dip your fingertips in water and run them around the edges to help them stick together.
Fold over and crimp edges lightly with a fork.
Preheat about 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet on medium-high for about five minutes.
Then turn it down to medium and carefully add your pies a few at a time, careful not to overcrowd.
Let them cook until golden brown on one side, then flip and cook until browned on the other as well.
This will just take a few minutes.
Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
Let cool slightly before eating.
Or add some powdered sugar over the top before you enjoy it. Or not, do whatever cranks your tractor!
Share with your friends!
Storage
Store leftover pies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. I like to quickly reheat them either in the air fryer or oven so they’re nice and crispy once more.
Recipe Notes
- For a buttermilk crust, substitute the milk for buttermilk.
- For extra chocolate flavor, add 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the pie dough.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use canned biscuit dough?
You can make these with canned biscuit dough but they won’t be the same. will still be good in a pinch though. You can also make these simply by sticking a mini chocolate bar inside each one – but it won’t be the same, either. They will still be good in a pinch, though! Just do what you have time to do and put your heart into it. The most important step in cooking isn’t the ingredients you use or how intricate the preparation is, it’s the process of making something yummy for someone because you love them. That makes everything taste better.
How do you serve chocolate hand pies?
If you want to be extra decadent (I mean, who doesn’t?) chocolate fried pies taste delicious with a drizzle of chocolate syrup or caramel sauce. Or why not serve a with a dollop of or a scoop of vanilla ? YUM.
Check out these other tasty chocolate treats:
Recipe For Easy Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup milk more if needed
- vegetable oil for frying
Filling
- 2 cups sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted 1 stick
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening with a long-tined fork. Add the milk and stir until the dough sticks together.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup milk
- Divide the dough into ten ball-shaped portions.
- In a separate bowl, stir together melted butter, cocoa powder, and sugar until it forms a paste.6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted, 2 cups sugar
- Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 inch in a large skillet and place over medium-high heat to preheat while you assemble pies.vegetable oil for frying
- On a floured surface, roll or pat each dough ball into a 6-inch circle. Place 2 tablespoons of chocolate filling in the center of each. Dip fingertips in water and run around the outside edges of the crust. Fold over and crimp with a fork to seal.
- After oil has heated for at least five minutes, reduce heat to medium. Carefully add a few pies at a time to hot oil and cook until golden brown on one side, then flip and brown on the other.
- Remove to paper towel-lined plates and repeat until all pies are cooked. Cool slightly before serving and add a dusting of powdered sugar, if desired.
Nutrition
Previous Pie Day Friday Posts
- May 31th – Frozen Turtle Pie
- June 7th – Strawberry Cream Pie
- June 13th – Triple Chocolate Brownie Pie
- June 21st – Frozen Oreo Pie
“Everyone has gifts, they just open them on different occasions.”
~Author unknown. Submitted by Jenny. Click here to submit your own.
These look so yummy!
I’m going to try these, I am a confirmed card carrying chocoholic. My Grandmother cooked in cafes for many years & made fabulous fried pies. I never got her recipe for the filling, but I know that she never used shortening for her crust. If she didn’t have lard we didn’t have pie. Thank you for this. Have a Jesus blessed day.
Me and my mini me made these tonight. Oh my goodness they were so good. This is sure enough a Saturday bake, I’m too messy and too slow for an afternoon after work. Lol
I am so glad that you liked them and had fun spending some time in the kitchen with your “mini”!!
Same recipe my Mamaw made in Alabama, but she did a few things different, she never melted the butter, just put the sugar and cocoa in the dough pocket with 3-4 pats of butter on top, they mix/melt into a perfect filling without you having to pre-mix…when you’re feeding lots of grandkids, this helps! 🙂 Also, she would make apple fried pies by adding pats of butter, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and dried apple slices she had made from the summer…YUMMINESS…another change is she never deep fried them, just put a few pats of butter (yep, more pats) into a flat skillet and cooked them like you’d cook a grilled cheese…:) Less fat I hope that way 🙂
So glad to have this recipe…reminds me of my grandmother! Thank you!! Can you please tell me what you use to stack your Pyrex bowls so they display so well?? What do you put insid eof them?? Thank you!
WOW – those fried chocolate pies look like they are to die for!!!! I’ve had lemon ones – have you ever attempted them?
Christy,
I tried the Fried Peach Pies and they were wonderful, turned out great with no problems. Then tried the Chocolate Pies, and had a mess. They tasted good, but when I fried them, I guess the chocolate got hot and the pie just turned into a gooey mess. Dough and chocolate, ended up almost like dumplings. Any suggestions?
Thanks
I tried Christy Jordan’s SouthernPlate.com “Aunt Sue’s Chocolate Fried Pies”.
The sugar filling was GRAINY. = 2 cups sugar, 6 T. unsweetened cocoa powder,
½ cup melted butter.
Instead, I told myself that I would try choc sauce recipe (below), but ‘increase cornstarch’ to make it thicker–to keep it from running out of crust while frying, (This following sauce is delicious over hot biscuits…)
1 T. butter 1 T. shortening 3 T. cocoa ¾ cup boiling water
2 T. white corn syrup 1 cup sugar 1 T. cornstarch ¼ t. salt 1 t. vanilla
Boil, stir over med heat ~ 5 min. till sugar is completely dissolved!
(I like dried peaches and choc pies…but had to buy apricots, since that’s all ALDI had.
It’s supposed to be grainy. Glad you found something that you liked though. 🙂
My mother made fried chocolate pies. I enjoyed many! I was not smart enough to really find out how while she was still living. I’ve tried but have not been able to get the right ratio of cocoa and sugar. Maybe this recipe will do the trick. My mother used very little oil to fry. She made them in a cast iron skillet.
I hope this is THE one that will remind you of your mother’s Ann. There is never anything better than a taste of home 🙂
This is the best. My grandmother used to make these with her leftover dough when she made big pies. Thank you. If you want the creamy chocolate pie use any other recipe out there for chocolate pie. This is for those of us raised on the southern cocoa fried pies.
Thank you so much for your comment. Appreciate your support ❤️
Do you have an exact recipe for the creamy filling it would really help to have it! Thanks so much!