Pie and Prejudice – Breakfast Pocket Pies

“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.”  – Jane Austen

And apple pies make wonderful breakfasts. I love breakfast. Sometimes I eat breakfast three meals a day. The conundrum with breakfast is that the days you most need a decent one are the days you don’t have time to make (or even eat) one. Here is one solution I worked up for turning a spare afternoon into breakfasts for weeks: Ham and Egg Breakfast Pies, and Pocket Apple Pies.

Plus, tiny pies are one of the most ridiculously adorable things you can eat. Extra points if you do so whilst enjoying the verbal repartee of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

Ham and Egg Breakfast Pies

Makes about 10 mini pies.  You will need:

• 1 recipe Basic Pie Dough, herb variation made with thyme, chilled
• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup diced ham
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 egg yolk + 2 tbsp water

First, make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. In a frying or saute pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Saute onions until translucent, then add ham and thyme and saute briefly to heat through. Reduce heat to low. Add egg mixture and stir until eggs are softly set. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 400F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

After filling has cooled, remove one disk of pie dough from fridge. You may want to let it rest at room temp for a few minutes before rolling, but don’t let it get to room temp. Here’s where you have a choice. You can either use a mini pie press, if you have one, or make small half-moon shaped pies by hand. Pies made with a press will be heavier on the crust, while those folded by hand can usually be heavier on the filling. Both will be delicious.

If using a mini pie press, place disk on a well-floured surface and sprinkle with flour. Roll out approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough with pie press, being careful with placement of cutter so that you get as many cut outs as possible. Peel away extra dough and lay aside.

Take one circle of dough and lay it on a floured surface. Place 2-3 tbsp of filling in center. In a small bowl, beat egg yolk and 2 tbsp water to make an egg wash. Brush edges of dough with egg wash.Top filling with 1 1/2 tbsp cheese.

Place a second circle of dough on top of the first, over the filling. Press edges lightly to stick. Place pie press over both crusts and press down evenly to crimp and seal.  You may have a type of press that’s more of a mold.  If so, follow the directions for the mold.

Cut vents into the top crust. This is important to keep the inside of the crust from burning! Transfer each pie to the lined baking sheet with a spatula. Brush the entire top of each pie with egg wash.

If folding pies by hand, you will need to roll out the crust differently. Tear small balls of dough off of the large disk – the bigger the ball of dough, the bigger your pie will be.  Air for something between a golf ball and a baseball. Shape the ball into an oblong log.

Roll dough 1/4 into a rough oval about 1/4 inch thick. Place filling into one side of the oval, just off from the center line. This shape will hold more filling, about 4-5 tbsp, possibly more. Top with cheese, and egg wash edges. Fold second half over press lightly. Use fingers or the back of a knife or spoon to stamp edges to seal. Trim excess dough. Cut vents and egg wash as above.

Repeat as above until you are out of dough or filling. You can recombine and re-roll dough scraps, but after one re-roll the dough will start to get overworked. It will still be delicious, but may shrink and be a bit tough. You should have somewhere between 8 and 12 pies, depending on size, and will need two baking sheets.

Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes, or until dough is nicely golden brown but not too dark. Serve as soon as cool enough to touch, or allow to cool completely for storage. Wrap or place into freezer bags and freeze. To reheat with crisp crust, bake frozen pie at 325F for about 20 minutes, or allow to thaw in fridge or on counter overnight and heat in oven until hot. If softer crust or faster heating is desired, heat in microwave for 1 – 1 1/2 minutes on high.

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Pocket Apple Pies

Makes about 10 mini pies.  You will need:

• 1 recipe Basic Pie Dough, sweet version, chilled
• 8 apples, diced small (I use Granny Smith, but any firmer baking apple will do)
• juice of 1 lemon (optional)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup + 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 tsp cloves
• 2-3 tbsp cold unsalted butter
• 1 egg yolk + 2 tbsp water
• sanding sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line baking sheets with parchment.

Place apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice to prevent discoloration. In a smaller bowl, mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cloves. Add sugar mixture to apples and toss to coat.

Follow instructions for rolling, cutting, and filling mini pies (either using a press or folding by hand) found above, using apple mixture in place of egg mixture and topping apples with a small piece of cold butter instead of cheese.

Press/seal pies, cut vent holes, and transfer to lined baking sheet. Brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Rough sugar is best (sprinkling crystals or large grained raw sugar), though you can use regular sugar or even a cinnamon/sugar mix.

Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes. Pies should be golden brown and fragrant. You may even have a small amount of juice running out of the vents.  Eat as soon as cool enough to touch, or store and reheat as above.

If you have extra filling, you can put it into a freezer bag and freeze it for later pies.  I make double batches on purpose and freeze the leftovers so that I only have to peel and cut apples once instead of twice.

Enjoy your tiny pies!  These are perfect for warm, on-the-go breakfasts, and are actually quite filling. Also, adorable.