
Venison hand pies (or pasties) are the right handheld meal. These scrumptious little treats are fabricated from flavorful venison and mushroom filling with stout beer gravy wrapped in a flaky Irish cheddar crust. Give them a strive right now!
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Why This Recipe Works:
Venison pot pie (or meat pie) is a traditional recipe for floor or shredded venison. However, the ratio of crust to filling is usually not splendid. Enter venison hand pies! Hand pies (or pasties) have virtually an equal ratio of filling to crust which is what makes them so scrumptious (and enjoyable to eat)!
The flavors of floor venison, dried mushrooms, thyme, and stout beer come collectively for a deliciously wealthy and earthy filling. The flaky crust is filled with items of Irish cheddar that add a cheese cracker-like taste and texture to the crust. Collectively, the filling and crust are virtually too scrumptious to consider!
Since hand pies are a lot smaller than conventional meat pies, they bake shortly too. As an added bonus, they’re even freezer pleasant! You may make a giant batch of hand pies, par-bake them, and freeze them for straightforward meals down the street. Full freezing directions will be discovered within the recipe card beneath.
Ingredient Notes:

- Floor Venison: You should utilize any floor meat instead of floor venison. Elk, moose, antelope, beef, turkey, and so forth. will all work.
- Dried Mushrooms: You should utilize any dried mushrooms you would like for this recipe. If you wish to use recent mushrooms, use about ¾ cup chopped recent mushrooms as a substitute of dried mushrooms.
- Stout Beer: This recipe makes use of a really clean stout beer. Should you select a beer with loads of hoppy taste, your filling could be extra bitter. Additionally if you wish to add extra beer taste, you may omit the inventory and double the quantity of beer.
- Do-it-yourself Pie Crust: This recipe requires a do-it-yourself Irish cheddar pie crust. You should utilize store-bought pie dough as a substitute. If you roll out the dough circles, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cheese over every circle and use your rolling pin to press the cheese into the dough. It will not be fairly the identical as having the cheese within the dough, however it should nonetheless add that tacky taste!
- Irish Cheddar: You should utilize sharp white cheddar or aged cheddar instead of Irish cheddar. Irish cheddar has a decrease moisture content material than different cheddar cheeses as a consequence of getting old. Should you use a standard cheddar in your crust, the feel could end up a bit totally different.
Step by Step Directions:
How To Make Venison Hand Pie Filling:
This venison pie filling has a really wealthy and earthy taste. The dried mushrooms add loads of umami taste and the stout beer provides a deep richness to the gravy. Take a look at the steps beneath to make this scrumptious hand pie filling!










Professional Tip: The important thing to creating this filling so scrumptious is the right gravy-to-meat/mushroom ratio. An excessive amount of gravy results in a soggy crust and too little gravy makes for a dry filling. Comply with the recipe beneath for the right ratio!
How To Make Cheddar Pie Crust:
Do-it-yourself pie crust cannot be beat. Now add some tangy Irish cheddar to it? Now we’re actually speaking. The flavour of the cheddar provides a cheese cracker-like taste and texture to the crust that pairs completely with the wealthy venison filling. See the steps beneath on how one can make it!








Professional Tip: Do not overwork the dough or it should turn out to be powerful. Gently fold the substances collectively till a dough is fashioned. Add extra water as wanted in case your dough is dry.
How To Make Venison Hand Pies:
You could have your filling and dough, now all that is left is meeting, baking, and consuming! See beneath for a number of suggestions and tips for assembling your hand pies.










Professional Tip: Hand pies make nice freezer meals. These venison pies freeze fantastically and make for a straightforward dinner down the street. Take a look at the freezing directions within the recipe card beneath!
What do I serve with Venison Hand Pies?
These little pies are filled with taste and are a bit on the wealthy facet. A recent inexperienced salad with honey mustard dressing or roasted greens work nice as a facet dish. These hand pies will also be served as an appetizer or as a part of a “snack dinner” with cheese boards, recent fruit, and so forth. Nevertheless you select to serve them, you are undoubtedly going to need seconds!


Recipe FAQ’s:
Pasties are handheld pies sometimes stuffed with meat and greens. Conventional pasties originated in England however cultures all around the world have a model of those meat-filled hand pies.
Meat pies are sometimes enclosed in crust (prime and backside) whereas pot pies sometimes solely have a prime crust. Pasties (or hand pies) are miniature meat pies.
The key to pie crust is to not overwork the dough. Gently folding the substances collectively helps hold the crust flaky and never powerful. Including aged cheese to pie crust for savory pies additionally helps make them flaky.
Different Recipes to Attempt:
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Recipe:

Venison and Wild Mushroom Hand Pies with Stout Beer
Venison hand pies (pasties) are the right handheld meal. These scrumptious little treats are fabricated from flavorful venison and mushroom filling with stout beer gravy wrapped in a flaky Irish cheddar crust.
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DirectionsÂ
Crust:
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Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.
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Add in butter. Squish items of butter between your fingers to flatten them.
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As soon as all butter items are flattened, add in shredded cheese and use a pastry blender to mix the butter and cheese into the flour combination. Mix till all butter and cheese items are pea-size or smaller.
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Drizzle ice water over flour combination and incorporate water into crust utilizing your arms. Begin with ½ cup water and add extra as wanted. The quantity of water wanted will rely on the kind of flour used, humidity, and so forth.
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Add water till you may type the dough right into a ball. Dough ought to stick collectively and be pliable however not sticky.
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Kind dough into 2 discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Filling:
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Whereas dough is chilling, put together filling.
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Place dried mushrooms in a glass or ceramic bowl. Add boiling water. Let sit for 15-20 minutes when you put together the opposite substances. As soon as mushrooms are carried out rehydrating, drain and finely chop the mushrooms.
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Warmth forged iron skillet over medium-high warmth. Add lard and swirl to coat the pan.
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Add chopped mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme to pan. Cut back warmth to medium. Cook dinner for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly, till barely softened and aromatic.
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Add in floor venison. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the meat. Break the meat up into small items and blend into the mushroom/shallot combination. Cook dinner for 3-5 minutes or till meat is browned. Take away combination to a bowl and put aside.
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Add butter to the pan. As soon as butter is melted, add flour. Stir to mix and prepare dinner for 1-2 minutes, or till bubbly and browned.
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Add in stout beer, inventory, and half and half. Stir to mix and prepare dinner for 3-5 minutes or till thickened.
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Add meat and mushroom combination again to the pan and stir to mix. Take away filling to a bowl and let cool barely earlier than assembling hand pies.
Meeting:
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Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
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On a evenly floured floor, divide every dough disc into 8 equal elements. Roll each bit of dough right into a ball. You need to have 16 balls complete.
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Roll every ball right into a 6″ tough circle. Place 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese on half of the dough circle. Add 2 ½ tablespoons of filling on prime of the cheese. Moist the perimeters of the circle barely and fold dough over filling to make a half circle.
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Seal the perimeters of every pie by folding the underside edge excessive edge and crimping together with your fingers. Alternatively, you may seal the perimeters with a fork.
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Place pies on parchment paper-lined sheet pans. Minimize 3 strains within the prime of every pie to vent.
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Observe: You possibly can roll out every ball right into a circle earlier than filling or work in batches of some at a time.
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Whisk collectively egg and 1 tablespoon chilly water. Utilizing a pastry brush, brush the highest of every pie with the egg wash.
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Bake for 18-22 minutes or till crust is evenly browned and filling is bubbly.
Freezing Directions:
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Comply with all steps above by hand pie meeting.
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Place hand pies on parchment paper-lined sheet pan and minimize slits within the tops to vent however do not brush with egg wash.
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Bake at 425°F for 8-10 minutes or till crust is about however not browned.
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Let pies cool barely then place total sheet pan within the freezer. Freeze till stable.
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Place frozen hand pies in zippered baggage or vacuum seal baggage. Freeze for as much as 3 months.
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Thaw pies on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan in a single day within the fridge. Brush with egg wash and bake at 425°F for 20-22 minutes.
Notes
- If utilizing recent mushrooms as a substitute of dried, change the 1 oz of dried mushrooms with ¾ cup chopped recent mushrooms.
- If you wish to add extra beer taste to the filling, omit the inventory and double the quantity of beer.
- You should utilize premade pie dough as a substitute of creating your personal. If you roll out the dough circles, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cheese over every circle and use your rolling pin to press the cheese into the dough. It will not be fairly the identical as having the cheese within the dough, however it should nonetheless add that tacky taste!
Vitamin
Energy: 227kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 9gFats: 14gSaturated Fats: 8gPolyunsaturated Fats: 1gMonounsaturated Fats: 3gTrans Fats: 0.3gLdl cholesterol: 51mgSodium: 326mgPotassium: 151mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 398IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 116mgIron: 1mg