beef & cheddar hand pies

Sorry I've been m.i.a. My old faithful laptop died and I am in the process of converting over to a Mac.
A whole new world to learn really.
Change is hard, but good in this case. I'm learning....
Ever have a trusty old something that you hate to lose?

Making beef and cheddar hand pies is easy, easy since I used the same crust that I used for my raspberry-cheddar hand pies.



King Arthur really nailed it with this cheddar cheese crust. It's so versatile. The next use will be an apple pie or apple hand pies. And since I get asked all the time "does it freeze well?" I can finally say yes, this cheddar crust does freeze very well.









I found a small bowl makes the best outlines for cutting out circles.



The beef filling can be anything you want really. Ground cooked beef with any type of veggie and/or sauce. I'm a pepper jelly junkie--love it on everything.







beef & cheddar hand pies
print recipe
cheddar crust from King Arthur

cheddar crust
3 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Hi-maize Fiber (or substitute all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup Vermont cheese powder (or substitute ¼ cup fine-grind Parmesan cheese)
3/4 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or a dash of hot sauce, optional
1 1/2 cups (24 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pats (I grated mine, kept them frozen)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup ice water

filling
¾ - 1 pound of cooked ground beef
any veggie you want: I used chopped sweet onions
¾ - 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, optional
pepper jelly, but use whatever type sauce/condiment you like

Cook notes: I made this without the hi-maize fiber using flour instead, and used Parmesan instead of cheese powder. BUT I highly recommend using/finding the sharp cheese powder because I’m so sure that adds a nice flavor and the parmesan makes it a little more greasy. I separated this dough into 5 mounds and only used one mound for the fruit pies, and freezing the rest. Does it freeze well? Yes. For the square-like hand pies, I rolled my hand pies into long squares, but use any shape you want—keep in mind that the dough should be as thin as possible since it does rise a bit when baking. Always keep the dough cold when working with it and always work the dough as little as possible as we want a nice crispy crust. The more you work the crust the chewier and less tender it will be.
In terms of cutting out dough squares for perfect sized hand pies? -- I’m horrid at this, so I just cut them into long strips and filled one half and folded over the other half OR I used a bowl and cut out circles (as seen in the photos). It’s rustic, but it works for me. If you have a better way, then please go ahead.
You should get about 4 batches of dough, and each batch of dough should give you about 4-6 hand pies depending on how thick/thin you rolled the dough and how you cut out each square/circle.

To make the crust: Combine the dry ingredients. Work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.

Add the cheddar cheese and water, mixing until the dough is cohesive; add extra water, if necessary, to make it come together. It will be crumbly, that’s ok, just mold them into mounds and cover with plastic—it will come together when it sits/sets up in the fridge. If you are using dough right away chill at least 30 minutes or more. If you are not using all of them right away then freeze the rest.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove a disk of dough from the fridge. Roll it into as big a square/rectangle, as you can. Using a sharp knife, slice out little squares (whatever size you want).
Fill the middles with about 1-2 TB of cooked beef, add on your veggies if using, then top off with shredded cheese and pepper jelly if using.
Make sure not to fill the centers too full or you’ll have a hard time closing/sealing up pie edges.
Once your filling is done, take another square or circle of dough and place over the top of the filling, gently seal up the edges with a fork by pressing down or pinching if necessary. It was not necessary to wet the edges before sealing; they stuck together just fine. I brushed the whole tops with the beaten egg before baking. Making a vent hole is NOT necessary.
Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate while making the other hand pies; you always want to keep the dough as cold as possible.

Bake the pies for 18 to 23 minutes, until golden.
Let cool a bit before serving as the filling is HOT.
Each disk of dough should yield about 4-6 hand pies.
They are great alone or served with a dipped sauce.

raspberry-cheddar hand pies

I finally found a very good, I mean really good, cheddar hand pie crust. For years I've always made my own UNTIL the talented folks at King Arthur Flour bestowed upon me their own recipe. Wow. It's really that good. Originally King Arthur used it for breakfast hand pies, which is a fabulous idea, but I used mine for a cheddar hand pie filled with jam. I love the idea of cheddar and fruit. Always had a slice of sharp cheddar cheese along with my apple pie--even made apple pie with cheese in--oh so fabulous. To be honest I was going to use apples inside this one, but didn't have enough apples, so I just used whatever was in the fridge.
When I eat croissants I LOVE to put raspberry jam on them--it's such a great combo.
But really you could fill these hand pies with anything--apples, scrambled eggs, stir fry veggies, brie, figs, chutney....endless possibilities. Keep in mind that this dough is really only for hand pies, I do not think this would work well as a pie crust since it puffs, a lot. I think the next batch well have some sort of chutney in them--doesn't that sound good? What do you think about chocolate? I'm in.






This is where I take shortcuts when it comes to cutting out squares. It works though!





raspberry-cheddar hand pies
from vanillasugarblog.com
crust from King Arthur Flour
print recipe

Cheddar crust
3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Hi-maize Fiber (or substitute all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup Vermont cheese powder (or substitute ¼ cup fine-grind Parmesan cheese)
3/4 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or a dash of hot sauce, optional
1 1/2 cups (24 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pats (I grated mine, kept them frozen)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup ice water

Filling
Raspberry jam (or whatever filling you want)

Cook notes: I made this without the hi-maize fiber using flour instead, and used parmesan instead of cheese powder. BUT I highly recommend using/finding the sharp cheese powder because I’m so sure that adds a nice flavor and the parmesan makes it a little more greasy. I separated this dough into 5 mounds and only used one mound for the fruit pies, and freezing the rest. Does it freeze well? Yes. For the square-like hand pies, I rolled my hand pies into long squares, but use any shape you want—keep in mind that the dough should be as thin as possible since it does rise a bit when baking. Always keep the dough cold when working with it and always work the dough as little as possible as we want a nice crispy crust. The more you work the crust the chewier and less tender it will be.
In terms of cutting out dough squares for perfect sized hand pies? -- I’m horrid at this, so I just cut them into long strips and filled one half and folded over the other half (as seen in the photos). It’s rustic, but it works for me. If you have a better way, then please go ahead.

To make the crust: Combine the dry ingredients. Work in the butter until the mixture is unevenly crumbly.

Add the cheddar cheese and water, mixing until the dough is cohesive; add extra water, if necessary, to make it come together. It will be crumbly, that’s ok, just mold them into mounds and cover with plastic—it will come together when it sits/sets up in the fridge. If you are using dough right away chill at least 30 minutes or more. If you are not using all of them right away then freeze the rest.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove a disk of dough from the fridge. Roll it into as big a square/rectangle, as you can. Using a sharp knife, slice out little squares (whatever size you want).
Fill the middles with about 2 teaspoons of raspberry jam. Take a square and place on top, seal up edges with a fork by pressing down or pinching if necessary.

I brushed the whole tops with the beaten egg before baking. Making a vent hole is NOT necessary.
Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate while making the other hand pies. You always want to keep the dough as cold as possible.
Bake the pies for 18 to 23 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven, and cool before eating as the filling is HOT.

apple-cheddar hand pies w/ maple glaze

Most of you know I love Emeril. A huge dream of mine is to meet him and cook with him--I mean cook things up to notches unknown! I think he is just absolutely fascinating to watch, always is quick-handed during cooking, knows how to react perfectly with people and just has this contagious energy to get people involved in cooking, just like he did in his show "Emeril Live"!
Remember that show?  Good times. Wish they'd bring that one back.

Emeril would get you so engaged, so excited to cook!
Best of all, I love that he likes to think as do I and kick things up a notch; as he would say "why be boring?...we're gonna make it better and badder!"  He definitely made you think about doing your same old recipe different; for me anyways.
Here is one of his recipes and one of my very favorite ways to make apple pie. I love hand pies. This way everyone gets their own individual pie, plus you can shape them into any form. Did you know that with hand pies come MORE crust? Think about it, you get more crust per square inch in a hand pie than you would with a slice of pie. For me, the crust is the best part--hands down. It's all about ratio baby! I don't think there should be an equal amount of filling to crust, I think it should be 60% crust and 40% filling.
(my apologies for the dark photos)





apple-cheddar hand pies
adapted from Emeril Lagasse
print recipe

2 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored, & chopped (I used 3 McCoun) 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (I used pie crust this time, both work great) 1 cup cheddar, shredded
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water (I used no water)
Maple Glaze, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice. Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and toss to combine.
In a saute pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Cook apple mixture for 7 to 10 minutes until apple juices release and apples are slightly softened. Sprinkle flour over mixture. Cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry sheet. With pizza wheel, cut pastry sheet into 6 squares.
Add the cubed cheese to cooled apple mixture.
Divide the apple mixture in the center of each pastry square, leaving a 1-inch border along the long sides.
Carefully fold into triangle shape; crimp the ends together with fork to seal, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
In a small bowl, beat together the egg and water to make an egg wash. With a pastry brush, lightly coat the outside of each square with the egg wash. Using a paring knife, make a vent in each triangle.
Bake until risen and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool slightly and drizzle with maple glaze. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.
If using pie crusts, they take about 30 - 35 minutes to cook.

Maple Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7 tablespoons maple syrup
Combine sugar and syrup until smooth.
(I added in about 4 - 6 oz. of softened cream cheese)

These really taste like a pop tart only 1000x's better.