Handpies for Dinner, Dessert, Breakfast and Lunch!
The greatest thing about making handpies is that they can be made for any meal of the day! Breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert, the possibilities are endless! Sweet or savory, eating at a table, on a picnic or as you rush out the door on your next adventure, handpies are a fantastic option for meals.
We admit, we might have gone a wee bit overboard with the number of recipes we put together in this post, but with as many possibilities as there are, we couldn't stop ourselves. So for this post, we've made it so that each recipe collapses into itself so that you can look at them one by one, rather than trying to wade through the entire article at once.
We'll start off with the crust for your pies, and then move on to the fillings.
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6 cups of Bread Flour
2 tsp salt
1 cup + 1/2 Tablespoon cold butter
1 cup cold water
2 egg yolks
5-7 cups of your filling of choice, see below
Combine flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
Cut your cold butter into tiny pieces, and work it into the flour, ideal using a fork or your fingers. (or an assistant, that works too!)
in a separate bowl, mix the water and one of your egg yolks together until well blended. Pour that into the flour and mix everything until it comes together.
Turn the dough out onto your counter and knead it lightly until it becomes a dough, rather than a mess of ingredients. The best way to knead the dough is to push forward and away from you with the heel of your hand, then fold the dough back towards yourself. Rotate it 90 degrees and repeat.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to a day.
When you're ready to bake your hand pies, preheat your oven to 445*F. Grab two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper *
Take your dough out of the fridge and set it on your counter. Cut it into 10 equal pieces of dough. Feel free to use a scale if you want, or just measure by eye and feel if you're feeling adventurous.
Set all of the pieces to the side but one, and roll that one into a 7 inch circle.
Add a rounded half cup of your filling to the center of the circle and fold the edges over so that you have a half moon.
With the edge you can get creative. Start by pressing the dough firmly together all around the filling. Then choose your crimping design of choice. The easiest method is to pinch and fold back the dough on itself so that you get a 'crimped' edge. You can also check out Pinterest to see what other nifty options you have. We don't advise using just a fork for this dough because of how much filling you have.
Place five pies on each of your baking sheets, and mix up your remaining egg yolk with 1 Tbsp of water.
Use a pastry brush and generously apply the wash to each pie.
Bake your pie for 20 minutes at 445* and then, without removing the pies from the oven, turn the heat down to 345* for another 15-20 minutes until they're crispy and browned.
*Important note here: Parchment paper is NOT the same as wax paper. Whatever you do, don't try and bake wax paper you will ruin your baking sheet if you're lucky and hurt your oven if you're not.
This is your basic pie dough. You can make this and freeze it once you've kneaded the dough, once you've cut the dough into sections, or once you've got it rolled out into rounds. All we suggest is making sure to wrap it in wax paper or plastic wrap and then putting it into a freezer safe container.
Important Note: In our pictures down below, we made a half batch and mini pies, rather than the full size ones you get with this recipe.
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1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter (you won't need additional salt thanks to the salt and the cheese)
1 Cup Yellow Onion, diced
2 ½ Cups Baby Bella Mushrooms sliced
½ teaspoon Ground Pepper, fresh
½ teaspoon Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons fresh Thyme chopped
2 ½ Cups Fresh Baby Spinach chopped
1 ½ Cups Gouda or Gruyere Cheese, grated
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Add mushrooms, onions, salt, pepper, and thyme in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook for 3-4 minutes until softened. Don't go based off the onions being transparent as further cooking will happen while you bake the handpies.
Stir in spinach while warm and remove from heat. Let cool and drain any excess juices.
Once cooled, add in your cheese of choice and mix thoroughly to combine.
Split your filling evenly between your pie rounds and bake to enjoy.
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16- oz cooked ham, chopped
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
¾ cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
¼ tsp onion powder
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In a large bowl, mix your ham, swiss cheese, cheddar chees and cream cheese, mixing until thoroughly combined.
In a smaller bowl, mix together your dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and onion powder until blended.
Add the two together and mix thoroughly.
Split your filling evenly between your pie rounds and bake to enjoy.
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2 lbs chicken breast
1.5 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 Red pepper, finely diced
1 Yellow pepper, finely diced
10 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cup chicken stock (split in half)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
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Grab your Instapot or crockpot and place your chicken and 1 cup of the chicken stock into it. Mix in 4 of your 10 garlic cloves.
Put the lid on the pot and cook for 20 minutes if you're using an Instantpot or 6 hours if you're using a slow cooker.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
Add onions, 6 cloves of minced garlic, and peppers, and sauté for about 5 minutes until softened.
Add chicken, tomato paste, 1 cup of chicken stock, salt and pepper.
Simmer, stirring often, allowing some of the liquid to evaporate, about 10 minutes.
Allow to cool to room temperature or in the fridge for 2 hours. If you're doing this in stages, you can chill overnight in the refrigerator too.
Split your filling evenly between your pie rounds and bake to enjoy.
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Fair warning on this one. There are Zero hard and fast amounts because we weren't given hard amounts. It's more of a "guess and test" recipe like we've done in the past.
Unsalted butter
corn - we advise fresh or frozen as it's easier to get them.
red onion, finely diced
limes- juice in one bowl and zest into another so you can add as much as you like.
red bell pepper, finely diced
cilantro
jalapeño, we suggest starting with 1 jalapeno to start with, finely diced without the seeds or pith
sour cream
Cotija cheese, and if you can't get hold of that, you can go with queso fresco
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In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add your butter and frozen corn. Cook for 8-10 minutes stirring often until the corn is cooked through and has a charred look to it. The high heat will cook it quickly and the char adds a nice smokey flavor to the recipe.
Remove from skillet and pour into a large bowl. Add the red onion, lime juice, lime zest, bell pepper, cilantro, and jalapeño. Stir to combine.
Add the sour cream and the cheese and stir to mix. At this point we suggest tasting the mix and seeing how you like it, adjusting different flavors as needed so that it's just right before you move on.
Once you've got the flavors right, split your filling evenly between your pie rounds and bake to enjoy.
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1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 white onion, finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 rib celery, finely diced
Salt to taste
Black pepper, freshly ground to taste
4 cloves garlic minced
1 pound ground beef
1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning
½ tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 level Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups beef stock or broth
1 medium russet potato, peeled and diced into ¼ -½ inch cubes
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
¼ cup green peas
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Start by gathering up your onion, carrot, celery, potato and parsley and chop them as stated above, keeping them separate as you finish working with them.
Take your skillet and put it down over medium- high heat, and add in the olive oil and butter. Once your butter is fully melted, stir it together with the olive oil and add in your onion, carrot and celery plus salt and pepper. Saute the vegetables until they're softened, but not transparent.
Add in your garlic and once you can smell it, add in the ground beef, Italian seasoning, white pepper, and a few more dashes of salt and black pepper. Cook the ground beef until it's no longer pink, using a spatula to crumble the beef.
Once the beef is finely cooked, if you're having a hard time getting it to crumble, you can remove it from the heat and once it's cooled enough, use your hands to break everything up. This is an optional step, and will require bringing the pan back up to heat before moving on.
Once your beef is finely crumbled, add in your tomato paste and the Worcestershire and stir that into the pan, and top with the flour. Stir everything together to blend well.
Add in your beef broth and the potato and stir to combine everything. Put the lid on the pan and allow it to simmer until the potatoes are tender, approximately 30 minutes. When a fork pressed gently against a potato cube slides through easily, you know they're done.
To finish it off, add in your thyme, chopped parsley and the peas and mix to combine. Make sure no other spices are needed, and then allow the filling to cool completely.
Once you've got the flavors right, split your filling evenly between your pie rounds and bake to enjoy.
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12 oz of fresh Blackberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice (the bottled stuff is just fine)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
Additional Sugar for Topping
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Rinse your blackberries well, and dry them with a clean towel, carefully or you'll end up dying your towel.
Cut them in half, and toss them into a medium-sized bowl. Add in your sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon and mix well so that there is very little liquid left in the mix. Add a tiny amount of sugar at a time if there is too much liquid after adding in the initial 1/4 cup.
Use an egg wash to help seal the pastries as you make them, to ensure they don't pop open while baking.
Notes on Freezing Your Handpies
There are several points throughout this process where you can stop and freeze what you've made.
- You can roll the dough around wax paper and then wrap the roll in plastic wrap.
- You can cut out your circles, layering them with squares of wax paper and freeze them at that point.
- You could make the handpies and freeze them prior to baking them.
- You could bake the handpies and then freeze them after they've cooled.
For any of these options, make sure to label and date what you've made so that you can use them within two months. For us we think the best options are either making the handpie circles or going ahead and making the pies up but not baking them.
And that is six different handpie recipes that you can use for any meal throughout the day whether you're at home or on the go. They freeze great and they taste even better. When you give these a shot, please let us know over on our Facebook page or in the comments below. We love hearing from you and all about your cooking adventures.
If you're contemplating handpies for meals because your stove isn't working properly, we can help. You can reach out to us at our office by calling ((214) 599-0055) or by going to our contact page to set up an appointment. We'll work with you to find a time that fits your schedule before sending one of our experienced techs to solve the issues. We work with you every step of the way to get your home running smoothly again.