Sweet and Savory Hand Pies
Big family feasts and holiday meals are the best! That’s when all the best tasting food comes to the table (and the best leftovers)! However, after a few days, I tend to get a little bored of eating the same leftovers. So, instead of eating the same meal over and over again, I like to bake the leftovers into some puff pastry (or pie crust, whatever you have) and eat it as a hand pie.
Hand pies are exactly what they sound like, pies that you can hold in your hand and eat! There are some traditional hand pie recipes, but they can really be any combination of flavors or leftover that you have.
I always have leftover scallop potatoes and ham from Easter dinner, and they seemed like a perfect hand pie filling. I tucked my leftovers into some store bought puff pastry (found in the freezer section) with some Tillamook Swiss Cheese. Make sure your scallop potatoes (or whatever leftovers you are using) are cold when you load them into your shell, that way they aren’t too gooey when you seal the hand pie.
Layer your leftovers in the middle of your pastry dough (make sure to leave enough room around the edges to seal the hand pie). Brush the edges with an egg wash (mix together an egg yolk and a little water) and then seal the pie by pressing the two sides together; mark the edges with a fork. Poke a few holes in the top to keep the pies from bursting while cooking and then brush the top with egg wash. Throw them in a 400 degree oven until they are gold brown (about 15-20 minutes).
We always seem to have a colony of chocolate bunnies around the house after Easter, so I cracked off a few pieces of chocolate and baked them into a cherry hand pie.
You will want to let them cool a little, but they are definitely best served warm out of the oven!
The options are truly endless; ham, swiss, and honey mustard or how about roast beef, horseradish cream, and provolone. What leftovers would you make a hand pie with?
