These spinach and cheese hand pies are downright delicious! The flaky, all butter pie crust made with just 5 ingredients serves as the perfect base to a savory filling that is packed with the cheesy, slightly spicy flavor of Pepper Jack cheese and sautéed spinach. Put simply, these hand pies are a breeze to make and are great as a snack or meal served with your favorite side dish!
This post is sponsored in partnership with Cabot Creamery Co-operative. However, all expressed thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that help make Nourished Endeavors possible.
Homemade Pie Crust Recipe with Butter
Key Ingredients
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- Unsalted Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Salt
- Cold Water
Tips for Making Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
- Keep Butter and Liquid Cold – the idea behind this is to keep the pie dough cold throughout its preparation. A cold pie dough prior to baking results in a flaky, more crisp crust as opposed to a warm dough. To ensure that these ingredients remain cold, I like to keep them refrigerated right until I am ready to use them. For extra insurance, ice cubes may be added to cold water to help keep its temperature cold.
- Butter (Fat) Should be Cut into Varying Sizes – when cutting butter into flour mixture, try not to overly cut/work the butter. The goal here is to cut the butter to the point where you have a mixture of medium to small chunks incorporated into the dry ingredients.
- Avoid Adding Too Much Liquid – pie crust dough generally does not require too much liquid just enough to bring the ingredients together and form into a workable dough. To avoid an overly wet dough, I suggest adding the liquid a little at a time until pie dough mixture starts to clump up and form into a ball. If you were to squeeze some of the dough in the palm of your hand and it holds its shape without crumbling or breaking apart, then enough water has been added.
- Refrain From Overworking Dough – once pie dough starts to take shape and form into a ball/clump together, stop mixing the dough. Transfer dough to a work surface and shape into a flattened disk. Dough does not need to be kneaded or overworked in any way. Doing so, will strengthen the gluten in dough and result in a dense instead of a delicate, flaky pie crust.
- Chill Dough Before Using – pie dough in general requires refrigeration before rolling into desired shape and baking. Chilling the dough allows the butter/fat in the dough to firm back up. During the baking process, chilled butter will create air pockets in dough as it melts resulting in a flaky pie crust. I like to take it a step further and freeze shaped dough for 30 minutes prior to baking just to ensure that butter in dough is fully chilled before hitting the oven.
Spinach and Cheese Filling
What is Pepper Jack Cheese?
Pepper Jack cheese is a spiced up version of Monterey Jack cheese; a semi-soft cheese made from cow’s milk; that has a spicy kick thanks to the addition of peppers like jalapenos! What I particularly like about Cabot Creamery’s Pepper Jack Cheese is that it is made with all natural ingredients and tastes incredible on its own or as a part of any dish it is used in. An added bonus is that Cabot Creamery’s Pepper Jack Cheese is lactose-free so it can be enjoyed by all cheese lovers!
Spinach and Cheese Filling Preparation
This no-hassle spinach Pepper Jack filling is a breeze to make and comes together within minutes. It involves heating olive oil and sautéing diced onions until translucent. Next, the spinach with seasonings and broth are added to sautéed onion and cooked until mixture is moistened but not overly wet. Filling is then transferred to a small mixing bowl to cool before using.
In a separate small mixing bowl, a blend of cheeses consisting of mozzarella and Pepper Jack cheese are mixed together to combine. Here, the mozzarella adds a creamy, melty consistency to filling while Pepper Jack adds a spicy kick that is not overpowering.
Savory Hand Pies Assembly
- Roll out and cut pie dough into 5-inch circles
- Add spinach and cheese filling to top half of pie dough circles
- Enclose and crimp hand pies
- Brush hand pies with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional)
- Bake savory hand pies until golden brown and flaky in appearance
How to Store Savory Hand Pies
Savory hand pies are best eaten the day it is baked; however, hand pies stored in an airtight container will last 2-3 days in the refrigerator and 1-2 months in the freezer.
To heat up hand pies, I recommend doing so in a toaster or conventional oven instead of the microwave to prevent crust and filling from becoming hard in texture.
Filled unbaked hand pies stored in a freezer-safe airtight container will last 1-3 months in the freezer. When ready to use, hand pies may be baked after being brushed with egg wash straight from the freezer. Simply increase bake time by 4-5 minutes.
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If you make this recipe, please make sure to let me know by tagging me @nourishedendeavors on Instagram or by leaving a comment in the comment section down below so I can find out how this recipe turned out for you! If you have any questions, ask away! I would love to answer your questions! Happy baking!
PrintSpinach and Cheese Hand Pies
These spinach and cheese hand pies are downright delicious! The flaky, all butter pie crust made with just 5 ingredients serves as the perfect base to a savory filling that is packed with the cheesy, slightly spicy flavor of Pepper Jack cheese and sautéed spinach. Put simply, these hand pies are a breeze to make and are great as a snack or meal served with your favorite side dish!
- Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes (Not including Refrigeration Time)
- Cook Time: 22 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
- Yield: 8 Hand Pies 1x
Ingredients
Homemade Pie Crust
- 1 1/2 Cups (188 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, Spooned and Leveled
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Granulated Sugar
- 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 10 Tablespoons (5 oz) Unsalted Butter, Cold, Cubed
- 1/2 Cup (120 ml) Cold Water
Spinach and Pepper Jack Cheese Filling
- 1/2 Cup (4 oz) Frozen Spinach,Packed,Drained of Excess Liquid
- 1/2 Cup (2 oz) Cabot Creamery’s Pepper Jack Cheese, Grated
- 1/2 Cup (2 oz) Cabot Creamery’s Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 2 Tablespoons Onions, Finely Chopped
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Vegetable Broth or Filtered Water
- 1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Assembly
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) Filtered Water
- Sesame Seeds (Optional)
Instructions
Homemade Pie Crust
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar and salt. Mix ingredients to combine.
- Add cubed butter into flour mixture. Next, toss butter pieces in dry ingredients to coat.
- Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour mixture. The goal here is to end up with butter chunks varying in size from medium to small.
- Gradually, add cold water into flour mixture 1 tablespoon at a time using a fork to gently work liquid into dough.
- You will not need to use all of the water just enough to bring dough together. When you are able to squeeze some of the dough in your hand without it falling apart, no more water needs to be added. I used a total of 4 tablespoons of water.
- Transfer pie crust dough onto a clean work surface and flatten slightly to form into a disk shape.
- Wrap disk of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours or overnight. If refrigerating dough overnight, allow dough to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. This will soften up pie crust dough making it easier to roll without cracking.
Spinach and Pepper Jack Cheese Filling
- In a medium frying pan heat up the oil under medium high heat. Add the onions and cook while stirring intermittently until onions become translucent, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the spinach, vegetable broth/water and seasonings into the pan with the onions and stir to combine.
- Cook spinach mixture for 2-3 minutes under medium-heat while stirring intermittently until mixture looks moistened but not overly wet.
- Transfer spinach filling into a small mixing bowl to cool to room temperature.
- In a separate small mixing bowl, add the Pepper Jack and mozzarella cheese. Give cheeses a good mix to combine.
Assembly
- Preheat oven to 400F(200C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, add the egg and water. Whisk ingredients to combine and set aside until ready to use.
- Transfer chilled pie dough to a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the top of dough and use a rolling pin to roll into a large 1/8-inch thick circle.
- Using a 5-inch circle pastry cutter or a bowl with a 5-inch diameter, cut circles from rolled dough. Re-roll scraps and cut out as many 5-inch circles as you can for a total of (8) pie dough circles.
- Working with one pie dough circle at a time, spoon 2 tablespoons of cheese mixture in the center of the top half of circle followed by 1 tablespoon of the spinach filling. Take care to leave a 1/4 inch border along the edge of circle.
- With a pastry brush, apply some of the egg wash around the 1/4 inch border of dough before folding the opposite end over filling to enclose. Press the ends together to secure and use a fork to crimp.
- Lay hand pie on prepared baking sheet and repeat process with remaining dough circles.
- Place hand pies in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes. This will allow butter in dough to firm back up before baking.
- Make two slits on each hand pie before brushing with egg wash and sprinkling with sesame seeds (optional).
- Bake hand pies for 20-22 minutes rotating the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Hand pies are ready when the crust appears flaky with a rich golden brown color.
- Allow hand pies to rest on baking sheet for 5-6 minutes before serving warm or transferring to cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
Notes
- Savory hand pies are best eaten the day it is baked; however, hand pies stored in an airtight container will last 2-3 days in the refrigerator and 1-2 months in the freezer.
- To heat up savory hand pies, I recommend doing so in a toaster or conventional oven instead of the microwave to prevent crust and filling from becoming hard in texture.
- Filled unbaked hand pies stored in a freezer safe airtight container will last 1-3 months in the freezer. When ready to use, hand pies may be baked after brushed with egg wash straight from the freezer. Simply increase bake time by 4-5 minutes.
- May use fresh spinach in place of frozen spinach.
- May use store-bought pie crust in place of making pie dough from scratch.
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