Books, Tea, and the Trinity: Savory Meat Hand Pies

So every Wednesday, starting in October, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on). This week we had Cinnamon Bun Scones, Curry Egg Salad Triple Stack Sandwiches, Savory Beef Hand Pies, Cranberry Feta Pinwheels, and Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies.

I though it would be able to post these faster, but I have really fallen behind. I’m trying to catch up though!

So my friend had made some meat pies a few weeks earlier and they were amazing! I begged and begged her for the recipe but she couldn’t give it to me as she didn’t really have a recipe. She just kind of throws things together.

So I instead went searching online and found a site called Longbourn Farm, and I was like “Longbourn”? Do you mean this Longbourn?

Pride and Prejudice’s Longbourn?

So of course I went with it. I ended up using my pie crust recipe from my apple pie recipe.

Ingredients: Pie Crust

• 2 Cups of All-Purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon of Salt
• 3/4 Cup of Shortening
• Ice Water

Filling:

• 1.5 lbs of Ground Beef
• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion
• 3/4 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Thyme
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Oregano
• 1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
• 1 Cup of Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon of Water

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix up the shortening and flour. Add in water, a tablespoon at a time until dough is more malleable. If you add too much and it is too liquid-y, then just add a bit more flour to firm it up.
2. Put dough aside.
3. In a medium frying pan on medium heat, add ground beef and spices.
4. When ground beef is brown, about 8 mins, add onion.
5. Cook until the Ground Beef is completely cooked through and the onoions are translucent.
6. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
7. Roll out pie dough and cut circles out of the pie crust, they should be about 4-6 inches in diameter. You can use a large cookie cutter or biscuit cutter or just trace a drinking glass if you don’t have a cutter.
8. Divide the Ground Beef and cheese up evenly between the circles.
9. Fold the circles in half and press the edges together gently. Crimp them firmly with a fork.
10. Whisk the egg and water together.
11. Brush the egg-water mixture onto each beef hand pie.
12. Place the beef hand pies on a lined or greased sheet tray.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

So these weren’t as good as my friend’s hand pies, but they were extremely delicious.

I did run out of pie dough though, and ended up having to buy more (I just bought the premade frozen ones).

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Cinnamon Bun Scones

For more recipes, go to Easy Fruit Tarts

For more pie recipes, go to Mini Apple Pies

For more tea posts, go to Brisket and Slaw Roulades

Harlem Tea Room Cheddar-Thyme Scones

So this recipe is borrowed from my sister blog, MysteriousEats.wordpress.com. Anytime she has a recipe that goes with Jane Austen (being time period or great to eat with her books/films) I’n going to post it on here.

So this comes from the same magazine that the Harlem Tea Room Baking Powder Scones were in, an old O- the Oprah magazine.

The article gave three versions of the recipe: Baking Powder Scones, Cheddar-Thyme Scones, and Raisin Scones. As I already did the Baking Powder, I thought I would try out the Cheddar-Thyme ones.

Ingredients:

• 8 Tbsps (1 Stick) of Cold, Unsalted Butter, Cut into Small Pieces, Plus Extra for Baking Sheets
• 3.5 Cups of All-Purpose Flour, Plus Extra for Later
• 2 Tsp of Baking Soda
• 2 Tsp Cream of Tartar
• 1/2 Tsp of Salt
• 2 Cups of Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Tbsp of Fresh Thyme, Chopped
• 1.5 Cups of Sour Cream or Buttermilk
• 1 Egg, Beaten, or Milk for Brushing Scones

Directions:

1. Preheat the Oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Coat two baking sheets with butter.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt into a large bowl.
4. Add butter, using fingertips to combine until mixture takes on texture of fine cornmeal.
5. Stir in 1.5 cups of grated Cheddar cheese and 1 Tbsp of chopped fresh Thyme into mixture.
6. Add sour cream or buttermilk and stir until flour mixture is just moist and dough begins to stick together.
7. Gather dough into a ball and knead lightly until fully integrated.
8. Place dough on floured work surface and roll with a floured rolling pin to 3/4 inch thick.
9. Dip a 2-inch cutter into flour and cut out scones as close to one another as possible.
10. Place on prepared baking sheets with space in between.Let stand ten minutes, then brush the tops with egg or milk.
11. Sprinkle tops with an additional 1/2 cup of Cheddar cheese before baking.
12. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 mins.
13. Serve warm with butter, clotted cream, fruit preserves, or jam.
14. Makes about 1.5 dozens.

THOUGHTS AFTER BAKING:

Were very good. All they need was a bit of butter

NOW

However, the thyme took forever. Like an hour to chop, but I made them another time with dried thyme and it wasn’t as good as fresh. It may take a long time, but it is worth it.

Absolutely delicious and I will make again and again.

And eat all by myself

For more scone recipes, go to Harvest Pumpkin Scones

For more on Peter Pan, go to It’s Always Tea Time  

And for weekly recipe reviews, go to Mysterious Eats

The song for today is As Long As There’s Christmas from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.

This song was written for the film by Rachel Portman and Don Black; and sung by the cast.

The thing I like about this song is the message it brings, no matter what as long as we celebrate Christmas we celebrate the hope the holiday brings.

For more on Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, go to 25 Films of Christmas

For more Christmas Carols, go to Xactly Why I Think Beastly is An Xcellent Story