07 July 2011

The mini series: meat pies

I still can’t believe I lost my “steamed French bread” post! I don’t know what I did but all of a sudden I only had the first part of the post. I guess that’s what happens when you let your mind wonder while doing things. I was thinking about my mini series. I have so much fun minimizing. Unfortunately this doesn’t make me eat less. I think I’ve gain some pounds just by doing the mini series. You’ve got to taste your creations right? But the good news is that I started running with my co-worker. We try to do it together at least once a week after work and at least one more time by ourselves. I’ve been too occupied with blogging to be running, but I will try. Last year I lost 20 pounds (10 kilos) and after my Asia trip I gained half of it back. So my goal is to loose the weight I gained and maintaining it…minimizing everything will hopefully help.

If you like savory pies you will love these minis. I was lucky enough to make just enough for 24 pies. Just a little warning…make sure you have plenty of time because it takes quite some to make these. I think minis are even more work then the regular sized ones.

For the stuffing I used:
-          1 hamburger
-          1/4 chopped onion
-          1 glove chopped garlic
-          1 teaspoon of garlic powder
-          fresh grounded pepper
-          a pinch of paprika powder
-          a pinch of cinnamon
-          chopped parsley
-          6 finely diced mushroom
-          15cm finely diced carrots

I mixed everything together and let the flavors combine while I made the dough.

I made it with:
-          5 big table spoons of flour
-          2 tablespoon cold butter
-          1 tablespoon oil
-          1 table spoon water
-          a pinch of salt
-          a pinch of Italian dried herbs
I started with crumbling the butter with the flour, the salt and the herbs. When it looks like wet sand I added the oil, mixed it some more and then added the water.
When it no long sticks on your fingers and you can roll it to a ball it should be good to go.
I made 24 little balls and dropped them in each mold. Then I made sure the dough was spread evenly over the bottom and sides. I filled all the molds with the meat mixture and stuffed them as much as I could.
Then I made sure I had enough dough for another 24 balls. Making the top was very time consuming. Since the moulds were very small and I barely had enough dough I had to stretch it out and make it thin enough to cover the meat.
With a little spoon (I used the flat site) I made sure the top connected to the sides sealing the meat in.

In every pie I made a small incision so they wouldn’t puff up.
I baked them in a preheated oven on 160C degrees for 45 minutes. Halfway I notice that there was a lot of grease coming out of the pies so I took them out and use a tissue to soak it all up. Then they went back in.
After they are done I left them to cool on a rack. Of course I couldn’t resist trying one or them.
This is when they just came out of the oven.
And this is one day later. I have to admit…the one day later tasted even better then the one straight out of the oven.

I think me and the hubby had a couple and my little sister finished off the whole batch!

10 comments:

  1. Love these cute mini pies! I'm sure they make such a great snack =)

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  2. Ooh, these look really great. I'd love to try it with chicken!
    Thanks for the friend add on Food Buzz, I love meeting new bloggers who love food just as much as me! ;)

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  3. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011

    Dang...I lost my comment - I understand how easily it can be to lose a post! Your meat pies are beautiful! I never would have thought to do a muffin form...I'd've done a free form like a pot-sticker. They look amazing and I love savory pies!

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  4. Mini's are always so darn cute. What great little pies....they look incredibly tasty.

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  5. Sorry to hear about your steamed bread post! Grrr! Love these little meat pies though :) Bites of bliss!

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  6. I love the savory mini pie idea! Losing 20 lbs! It's my goal to lose 10 lbs but it doesn't seem like happening.... so hard to lose weight!

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  7. I think we all have trouble losing those extra pounds...especially since we all love to eat! Having a blog and reading other blogs is not helping! But it is a darn good way to keep yourself occupied =)

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  8. Blogging is the bane of us wannabe weight losers. Bad enough to cook and blog about it but we still have to read about the delicious food of our friend bloggers. Now I really want to eat meat pie. I like the filling so much.

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  9. So cute! They are almost like empanadas! I'm with you its hard to blog and loose weight. LOL. I need more family/friends to feed it to!

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  10. What a great idea!! They look delicious! :)

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