Severed Hand Pies Recipes

SEVERED HAND PIES

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Cook onions until slightly translucent (about 4 minutes). Add ground beef and brown. Drain out grease.
• Add the rest of the filling ingredients and simmer 15-20 minutes with lid.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Trace your hand to create a hand stencil out of cardboard.
• Roll out the pie crust onto a floured surface.
• Use a paring knife to cut 2 hands in each sheet of pie crust, making a total of 8 hands (4 for base, 4 for top).
• Brush edges of the base hands with egg wash. Add 2 tablespoons of filling to the center of each and 2 tablespoons shredded cheese. Cover each with second dough hand and press around the edges. Crimp edges with fork and brush with egg.
• Bake for 14 minutes. Serve warm.

CHERRY HAND PIES

Steps:

• Make the dough: Pulse the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Drizzle in 6 tablespoons ice water and pulse until the dough starts coming together.
• Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and lightly knead to bring together. Form into a disk, wrap in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: Combine the cherries, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the cherries are juicy and the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, 5 more minutes. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the juice into a small bowl; stir in the cornstarch until dissolved. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and continue to simmer, stirring, until very thick, 6 to 8 more minutes. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the lemon juice and let cool.
• Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each into a ball. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each ball into a 6 1/2-inch round, using as little flour as possible. Stack the rounds between pieces of parchment paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand 5 minutes. Place 2 tablespoons cherry filling in the center of each round, then fold in half to enclose and crimp the edges to seal.
• Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a deep skillet until a deep-fry thermometer registers 360 degrees F. Fry the pies in 2 batches, turning once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

CHERRY HAND PIES

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, whisk 4 tablespoons water, sugar, brandy, cornstarch, lemon juice, tapioca, lemon zest and salt until combined. Add cherries. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool., Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough to a 14x9-in. rectangle. Cut out eight 3-1/2 x 4-1/2-in. rectangles. Repeat with remaining dough. , Transfer 8 rectangles to parchment-lined baking sheets; spoon about 3 tablespoons cherry mixture in center of each. Whisk egg and remaining 2 tablespoons water. Brush edges of crust with egg wash. Top with remaining 8 rectangles; press edges with a fork to seal. Brush tops with egg wash; cut slits in tops., Bake until crust is golden brown and slightly puffed, 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine confectioners' sugar, hot water, melted butter, extracts and salt; drizzle over pies. Garnish with freeze-dried strawberries if desired. Let stand until set.

GREEK HAND PIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix the flour with 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, 1/4 cup of the olive oil and the vinegar. Mix until the dough comes together; it will be sticky.
• Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth and no longer tacky, using a pastry scraper to free it from the work surface. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.
• In a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the scallions and cook over moderate heat until softened, 3 minutes. Add the greens and cook over high heat, stirring, until wilted, 2 minutes. Stir in the dill, mint and oregano and cook until wilted, 1 minute. Transfer the contents of the skillet to a colander and let cool. When the greens are cool enough to handle, squeeze out any excess liquid.
• In a large bowl, combine the greens with the feta, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and the egg. Season the filling with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
• Lightly flour a large, rimmed baking sheet. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; cut into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece out to a 9-inch round 1/16 inch thick. Using an 8-inch plate as a template, cut an 8-inch disk from each round. Mound one-fourth of the filling on the lower half of each disk. Fold the dough over to make a half-moon; press the edge of the dough to seal. Using a lightly floured fork, crimp the edges. Transfer the hand pies to the prepared baking sheet.
• In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of the vegetable oil over moderately high heat until shimmering. Add 2 pies at a time and fry, turning once, until deep golden brown, about 6 minutes. Drain the pies on paper towels. Serve hot.

TEXAS HAND PIES

Steps:

• Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the food processor bowl. Pulse a time or two to blend. Add the vanilla, sour cream and milk. Pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter, shortening and sugar and egg, and process until the mixture is thoroughly blended and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.
• Divide the mixture into 12 equal portion and form into balls.
• Refrigerate for about an hour until they're well chilled.
• Preheat oven to 375, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Flour the work surface and rolling pin. Place a ball of chilled dough on the floured surface. Roll each ball of chilled dough into a 5" diameter circle, using additional flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
• Spread 1 1/2 tbsp filling on one half of the circle, leaving a 1/2" uncovered space around the edge of the dough. Moisten the 1/2" space all around the edge of the dough with water.
• Fold the circle of dough in half, over the filling, and crimp the edges with a fork. Prick the pies a few time with the fork tines, to allow the steam to escape while they're baking.
• Place the pies on the parchment on the baking sheet, and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes, or until they're light brown.
• Place the pies on a cooling rack until room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving.

HAND PIES (PASTIES)

Steps:

• Bring pie crust out and to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly grease, spray or use parchment on a large baking sheet.
• Mix vegetables, and pork sausage if using. Don't precook the sausage - it will cook when the pies bake.
• Cut crust into small circles, about 2-3 inches across. You should be able to get five or six circles out of each crust if you re-roll the pastry leftovers.
• Place an equal amount of the filling on half of the circles, and top with another circle.
• Fold the edges over each other towards the top, and crimp together like a traditional pie crust. Make a small slit in the center to vent steam, and brush with an egg wash if you like.
• Place each little pie on the prepared baking sheet, and bake for approximately one hour, checking for over-browning.
• Can be eaten hot or cold.