St. Patrick's Day hand pies

Flaky little pie crusts stuffed with corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and onions will be the hit of your St. Patrick’s Day party. These savory treats are also a great way to use leftover corned beef, and are easy to pack in a lunch.

Did I say leftover corned beef? The only way that ever happens around here is if I cook two roasts! And now that The Man has had a taste of these hand pies, I may have to cook three.

I originally made these with green pie crust. You know . . . going with the whole green theme. I don’t have a problem eating green baked goods; green doughnuts taste just as good as normal doughnuts, right? But to be honest with you, the green crust didn’t photograph very well.

If you want to do it for fun, just add a few drops of green food color to the buttermilk before you add it to the flour. (I may have gone a little overboard with the coloring.) Hand pies with shiny golden brown crusts are lovely, and can be used for any occasion, so I’ll just let you choose.

I also played with the crust and made shamrock shaped pies. The half circles are easier to make – definitely less time consuming, but the shamrocks are pretty cute. They just have those little corners that you have to pay attention to and get sealed properly. If you’re up for a challenge and you have a large shamrock cookie cutter, give them a whirl!

Corned Beef Hand Pies

Author: The Rowdy Baker

Makes approximately 24 hand pies if using 4-5 inch circles.

Ingredients

Filling:
2 cups cooked corned beef, finely chopped
1 cup grated cabbage and carrot mixture, finely chopped
¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
2 teaspoons mustard, yellow or Dijon
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon flour
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 eggs (1 egg is used for egg wash)
Pastry:
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup cold butter
1 cup cold shortening
½ cup buttermilk (you may use regular milk)
2 tablespoons vodka (or vinegar, if you prefer)

Instructions

In medium bowl, combine corned beef, cabbage and carrot mixture, and green onions.
In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, flour, sugar, garlic powder, and 1 egg. Pour into the meat and vegetable mixture and stir well. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add butter and shortening and, using a pastry blender, blend together until small lumps no larger than peas remain.
In a cup or small bowl, combine the buttermilk and vodka (or vinegar). Pour all at once into the dry ingredients and toss with a fork (or your fingers) until combined. Mixture should form a ball when you press it together with your hands. Divide into 3 disks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 15 minutes.
Heat oven to 375 F.
Whisk together the remaining egg and 1 tablespoon water in a cup to make an egg wash. Set aside.
On a floured surface, or between two pieces of lightly floured parchment, roll once piece of dough out at a time to about ⅛-inch thickness. If using parchment, you may need to lift the paper and sprinkle dough with flour to keep it from sticking and to keep parchment from wrinkling.
Using a 4-inch round cutter or large shamrock cookie cutter, cut as many pieces as possible. Cover scraps and put aside to re-roll all at once at the end. If you have a small roller, the shapes can be rolled gently to make them a little larger and thinner. 5 inches is perfect.
Brush one piece lightly with egg wash. Add approximately 1 heaping tablespoon of filling. For half circles, fold the circle over. For shamrocks, cover with another shamrock shape. Press firmly around the edge of the hand pie, then use a small fork and go around it again to seal.
Poke a few small holes in the top of each pie and brush lightly with egg wash. Place on parchment covered baking sheets.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the bottoms turn golden brown. Serve warm.

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Finely chop the cooked corned beef.

Stir all of this goodness together! I hate to say this, but you could roll out biscuits from and can, fill them with this, and they would STILL taste amazing!