Miniature Meat Pies

Memorial Day weekend is coming and the daycare has already started the last-week-of-school energy even though we are not technically a school. The parents are booking vacations and adjusting schedules and the kids can feel the shift even if they do not understand it. It comes through as extra energy and mild chaos and I find it charming on good days and challenging on the hard ones. This week was mostly good days.

I made the peach hand pies for the end-of-year party on Friday. Fifty individual pies, which I made in three batches Thursday evening after work and stored in the refrigerator overnight, then baked fresh Friday morning before I left for the daycare. They came out beautifully: golden pastry, the filling peeking out where one seam had opened slightly on a few of them, which I do not consider a flaw because it is proof of real fruit inside. The parents loved them and three people asked for the recipe and I gave it without hesitation because a recipe is not something you lose by giving it away.

Gloria says that. She says a recipe is not a secret, it is a gift that keeps giving. All her index cards are available to anyone who asks. She has always been free with her knowledge because she says what matters is not the knowing but the doing. I think about that when I am teaching the kids at daycare too. It is the same principle.

Sunday I drove to Gloria's and we did not cook anything elaborate. She had made sweet tea, somehow, the way she always does, and we sat on the back porch in the late afternoon and ate leftover ham sandwiches and she told me about Memorial Days from when she was young. I just listened. Some conversations are more important than the meal.

The peach version is what I made for Friday’s party, but the technique that made fifty pies manageable—batching the filling ahead, refrigerating overnight, baking fresh in the morning—works just as well with a savory meat filling, and it’s the version I turn to when the occasion calls for something heartier. Gloria is the one who first showed me miniature meat pies, her index card version, and I have adjusted it over the years the way you do, but the bones are hers. If three parents asked me for the recipe on Friday, I’m giving them this one too, because a recipe is not something you lose by giving it away.

Prep Time: 35 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 24 miniature pies

Ingredients

2 packages (14.1 oz each) refrigerated pie crust dough (4 sheets total)
1 lb ground beef (85% lean)
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Make the filling. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef, breaking it apart, until browned, about 6 minutes. Drain excess fat. Add onion and cook until softened, 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Season and reduce. Add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, thyme, salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir to combine and simmer over medium heat until liquid is mostly absorbed and filling is thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. (This step can be done the night before — store covered in the refrigerator.)
Preheat oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut dough rounds. On a lightly floured surface, unroll pie crust sheets. Using a 3-inch round biscuit cutter or glass, cut as many circles as possible from each sheet, re-rolling scraps once. You should get approximately 48 rounds total.
Fill and seal. Place 24 dough rounds on prepared baking sheets. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of cooled meat filling onto the center of each round. Top each with a second dough round. Press edges firmly together with your fingers, then crimp with a fork to seal completely.
Egg wash and vent. Whisk together beaten egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the tops of each pie lightly with egg wash. Cut a small X vent in the top of each pie with a sharp knife.
Bake. Bake for 20—25 minutes, rotating pans once halfway through, until pastry is deep golden brown. Let rest on the pan for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Miniature Meat Pies — Fifty Little Pies for a Crowd Taught Me Everything I Need to Know