Severed Hand Pies Recipes

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.

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.

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.