Sweet Potato Hand Pies
Flaky, buttery crust filled with a creamy bite of brown-sugar blended sweet potatoes results in my must-have Sweet Potato Hand Pies.
The thought of hand pies always takes me back to my childhood growing up in Louisiana. There was a lady that lived down the street from my grandmother who sold these sweet treats and I was in love from the first taste.
Hand pies can come baked or fried, but either way, they are a great dessert option — especially around the holidays. At Thanksgiving, these always have a place at the table. Due to their size, they are easy to enjoy and when you’re coordinating a large family meal, whipping these up minimizes planning and prep.
You can always purchase a store-bought pastry dough ahead of time, or you can make your crust from scratch a day in advance. However, I went with a homemade crust for this recipe. If you have the time, going with a homemade crust would be my preference. There is nothing like fresh, buttery pastry dough.
Making Sweet Potato Hand Pies:
After making your pastry dough, you’ll want to place your dough in the fridge for at least an hour. By allowing your dough to chill, you give the gluten time to relax. This means a more tender dough. Plus, it makes the dough easier to work with, adds moisture back into the dough, and decreases the amount of shrinkage during the baking process.
I add crème fraîche to my dough to produce a softer texture.
The sweet potato filling is where the party begins. Sweet potatoes have a health benefit too, but when you add butter, sugar, and cane syrup it will definitely “benefit” your taste buds. 🙂
These pies only take 17 minutes of baking until you are ready to consume the entire batch in one sitting. Just kidding…but not far fetched. When you want to add a great tasting pie recipe to your sweet tooth rotation give these Sweet Potato Hand Pies a spot on your table. Enjoy!
Want more sweet potato recipes? Check out my mini sweet potato pies made using the same tasty pie filling!
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Sweet Potato Hand Pies
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Flaky, buttery crust filled with a creamy bite of brown-sugar blended sweet potatoes results in my must-have Sweet Potato Hand Pies.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
- extra flour for rolling out the dough
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
For the sweet potato filling:
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup pure cane syrup (paid link)
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup evaporated milk
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Â
- For the crust, add the flour, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until combined. Add cold butter to the bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into the flour until small crumbles appear. Add crème fraîche into the bowl and mix.
- Form dough into a large ball using your hands. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. Once the dough is chilled, roll out dough to ¼″ thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut into 3″ circles.Â
- While the crust is chilling, peel the skin from the sweet potatoes and cut them into large cubes. Boil for 30 minutes (See note below for the option to bake your sweet potatoes). Drain. In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes, add sugar, pure cane syrup (paid link), light brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and allspice. Blend until smooth.
- Add a small scoop of sweet potato filling to the center. Fold the dough over the sweet potato filling and seal with fingers. Roll the ends over.
- Cut three holes into the top of the dough and place them onto a baking sheet (paid link).Â
- Add 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water into a bowl. Brush the egg mixture over the top of each hand pie.
- Bake pies for 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheet (paid link), allow to cool, then serve.
Notes
You can also bake your sweet potatoes instead of boiling them. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Using a fork, make a few holes in the top of the sweet potato. Place them on a baking sheet (paid link) and bake them for 1 hour. Allow to cool and remove the skin.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 715
- Sugar: 76.1g
- Sodium: 171mg
- Fat: 24.8g
- Carbohydrates: 121.4g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 6.5g
- Cholesterol: 65mg
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