Sweet Potato Hand Pies

ByEric Jones
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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.

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

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.

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

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.

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

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.

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

I used crème fraîche (instead of butter) in my pastry dough to produce a softer texture, but for a more traditional (and more buttery texture), you can remove this ingredient and replace it with 1 stick (4 oz.) of cold salted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

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. 🙂

holding open sweet potato hand pie

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!

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

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

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

  • Author: Eric Jones
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
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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

Units Scale

For the Crust:

  • 1 3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 cup Pastry Flour
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup Crème Fraîche (see the butter alternative in the notes below)
  • Pastry Flour (for rolling out the dough)

For the sweet potato filling:

  • 1 Large Sweet Potato
  • 1/4 cup Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Pure Cane Syrup
  • 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

  1. Begin by adding the ingredients for the crust into a bowl. Mix by hand and form into a large ball of dough. Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
  2. 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 all remaining sweet potato filling ingredients, and blend.
  3. Spread pastry flour over the countertop. Slightly cover the dough with flour then cut in half. Roll each half into a ball, and cut each ball into four pieces. Flatten each dough piece.
  4. Add a scoop of sweet potato filling to the center. Fold the dough over the sweet potato filling and seal with fingers. Roll the ends over.
  5. Cut three holes into the top of the dough and place them onto a baking sheet (paid link). 
  6. Add 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water into a bowl. Brush egg mixture over the top of each hand pie.
  7. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake pies for 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheet (paid link), allow to cool, then serve.

Notes

For a traditional flaky pie crust: Instead of the crème fraîche, use 1 stick (4 oz.) cold salted butter, cut in 1/2-inch pieces. If you are using unsalted butter for this recipe, add 1 teaspoon salt to the dough mixture.

You can also bake your sweet potatoes instead of boiling them. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Using a fork, make a few holes on 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.

If you do not have pastry dough, you can substitute it for all-purpose flour.

  • 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

Keywords: Sweet Potato Hand Pies, Hand Pies, Thanksgiving dessert, sweet potato desserts

I'm Eric --- a husband, father, Louisiana native, and lover of Tex-Mex and double-stacked burgers. On this site, you'll find Southern recipes I learned from my grandmothers using simple, approachable ingredients.

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  1. Pingback: Mini Sweet Potato Pies | Dude That Cookz