These Turkey Sausage Hand Pies are filled with sweet potatoes and sage. I developed this recipe to be my American version of Cornish Pasties. While the filling isn’t the traditional Cornish way, I used Sausage Crumbles and added sweet potatoes, onion, fresh herbs and a “wee” bit of dried cranberries. You could use a pre-made pie crust but I made my own. These are wonderful portable “lunches”, which is why the Cornwall coal miners wives packed these meals for their hard-working husbands.
Jimmy Dean invited me to participate in a recipe challenge to promote their Fully-Cooked Sausage Crumbles. Me? Compete in a cooking contest? That’s really stepping out of my comfort zone, you see. I’d never survive being in a Pillsbury Bakeoff contest. I just don’t have that kind of courage confidence!
The Jimmy Dean company must’ve caught me at a rare moment, because I decided I was game to try their product, and to develop my own recipe. My men love sausage, almost as much as they love bacon. So, why not?
I was offered a grocery stipend and two coupons to buy what I needed for my recipe. I really must live in the ‘burbs, because it took a few attempts to find this product at my local grocery store. I picked up the pork sausage crumbles and the turkey sausage crumbles.
At first, I thought of pizza. But, I’ve already shared a recipe for my favorite pizza of sausage, onion and mushrooms. (These crumbles would be perfect for that recipe.) I thought of making a sausage frittata, or a quiche. But I figured that wouldn’t be very “different”.
So, I focused on the hearty turkey sausage crumbles. We have a hearty amount of sage growing in our herb garden, and I always have sweet potatoes on my shopping list. Turkey, sweet potatoes and sage– Thanksgiving? Well, sort of. But how would I put this all together? A quiche? Pastry… pie… aha!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Cornish Pasty (PAST-TEE). I’ve never been to Cornwall, but I’ve traveled around England…and I have to say that these lovely savory hand pies left a good impression on me. On occasion, my husband will join me at a British tea room (which are hard to find in our California neck of the woods), and he enjoys eating a traditional Cornish Pasty, filled with beef, onion and rutabagas. So, I did a bit of research on Cornish pasties, and developed a recipe that breaks from the traditional Cornish pasty. The pastry, however, is perfect for making traditional pasties. For American purposes, I’d say these are “Sausage Hand Pie”.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with pasties, here’s a little bit of history:
By the end of the 18th century it was the staple diet of working men
across Cornwall. Miners and farm workers took this portable and easy to
eat convenience food with them to work because it was so well suited to
the purpose. Its size and shape made it easy to carry, its pastry case
insulated the contents and was durable enough to survive, while its
wholesome ingredients provided enough sustenance to see the workers
through their long and arduous working days. Source from here:
One can skip this step and buy a refrigerated pie crust. I won’t judge. But, if you look in my “Recipes by Category” Index, I have shared numerous recipes for making your own pie crusts. I’m not an expert, but my family says that I make great pies. They are my most honest critics, so I thank them.
Decisions, decision, on making the dough. All butter? All shortening or lard? The more I read about pasty recipes, opinions are greatly divided. So, I decided to meet the debate half way.
I used one stick of unsalted butter and four ounces of shortening (I used Spectrum organic vegetable shortening).
I find that my food processor makes this all very quick. I simply pulse the cold butter and shortening, until it becomes crumbly…
… and add ice water until the dough just begins to bind together.
The dough is dumped onto plastic wrap, which is gently shaped into a disk, covered and refrigerated for at least 30 minutes. (You can do this up to two days in advance.)
For the filling, the fully cooked sausage crumbles was really convenient. All I had to do was chop up some veggies and herbs– so here we go:
Oh. One more thing– if you leave a comment… and I win–you just might win a year’s worth of free Jimmy Dean Sausage Crumbles!
Turkey Sausage, Sweet Potato and Sage Hand Pies
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 cups all purpose flour plus extra for rolling the dough
- 4 ounces shortening or lard
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1-stick, cut into small pieces
- Pinch salt
- 3/4 cup ice water
For the filling:
- 1 bag Jimmy Dean fully-cooked turkey sausage crumbles 9-ounces bag; or cook and drain turkey or pork sausages
- 1 small onion finely minced (about 1-cup)
- 1 cup sweet potato diced, cut into even small pieces
- 2 Tablespoons fresh sage finely chopped or 1 Tbsp. dried sage
- 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 2 teaspoons pure olive oil
- 1 cup dried cranberries divided
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg and water
Instructions
For the crust:
- (note: I prefer to mix my dough in a food processor, but you can also use a pastry cutter or your own fingers:
- Using a food processor, pulse the flour and salt together.
- Add the butter and shortening, and pulse a few times, until the dough resembles coarse crumbs.
- Very slowly, add the ice water, in small increments and pulse until the dough comes together, adding a little more water as needed.
- Once the dough binds together, Plop" the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and gently press into a round circle. Cover with plastic wrap, and "roll" the edges to create an even round disk.
- Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, to allow the dough to relax.
- Note: You can prepare the dough up to 2 days in advance.
Filling:
- In a large bowl, add the Jimmy Dean sausage crumbles (or cooked and drained turkey or pork sausage) , onion, sweet potatoes, herbs, dried cranberries (if using) salt & pepper and olive oil.
- Gently stir to combine.
Pastry:
- Remove the dough, from the refrigerator, and divide into 8 even pieces.
- (Make sure the dough is cold for easier handling.)
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a ball, and using a rolling pin, roll out, from the center. Give a 1/4 turn, roll, turn, roll.
- Note: This prevents the dough from "sticking".
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or generously grease a baking sheet.
- Whisk the egg with a splash of water and set aside.
- Using a 6-inch plate, cut the dough into a round shape.
- With a pastry brush, brush a bit of the egg wash around the outside edge of the pastry.
- Fill the center of the pastry with a mound of filling (about 1/2 cup).
- Add a small handful of the cranberries (about 1 Tablespoon)
- Fold the dough over, gently pressing the edges of the dough together.
- Crimp together with the tines of a fork, or use a folding technique to create a pretty crimp.
- (I use a pastry dough press set, which is a bit of cheating, but fun to do.)
- Cut three small slits in the top of each “pasty” and brush with the egg wash.
- Bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes, and enjoy!
Notes
My husband would kill for these, they look so delicious, and your pastry skills are, as usual, top notch Debby!
Oh my gosh these are beautiful, Debby! You would rock at the Bake-Off or any other competition, in my opinion. Good luck..these are definite winners! 🙂
Wow, You totally ROCKED the Cornish Hand Pies. This recipe looks fantastic, along with the photos and all. Brilliant Skills, and I am sure the flavor is Divine! Can't wait to make my own! Your an Inspiration!
Yum – I even have one of those little presses so now I will go find the crumbles
Wow, these look delicious! I love how you make every thing seem so doable. Great pics too, as always!
Such a good idea. Thanks for the step-by-step instructions.
Wow those look yummy!!
These hand pies look wonderful, and congratulations to you for stepping out of your comfort cone and up to the plate! Good luck in the contest. I hope you win!
Those look amazing. I would love to try these for Jared some time.
Love how pretty the edge looks. I'll have o look for the crumbles.
These look delicious as always. Your photos are good enough to eat right off of the screen! Yum!
Your hand pies are gorgeous Debbie and you made a great decision as to the filling. Good luck. I declare these Cornish Pasties a winner.
Sam
Debby, what a great idea. I first tasted pasties in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where a lot of Finnish descended people still live. They would make these (huge sized) filled with venison, onions and potatoes or rutabagas wrapped well in tinfoil and take them into the copper mines for lunch. Imagine about 3 times that size for one. They were extremely filling. Love the addition of the dried cranberries.
Pastie, hand pie – I call them YUMMY! Love those Jimmie Dean crumbles too. Out of your comfort zone? WHY?!* You rock!
They look amazing & I love they are turkey sausage too.Thanks for sharing this recipe which I will have to try!
Great photos! The hand pies look yummy!
Looks good. Have not heard of the Jimmy Dean product, will have to try it.
These look amazing. I would love to have these made with a spicy sausage too. I love spicy with sweet potatoes.
These look great,can't wait to try. Like you I'm hooked on sausage and shrooms on my pizza, can't wait to try a new use for sausage.
These look beautiful and sound wonderful. Maybe something to make to carry along to college with me. I love the idea of the pastry set tired of my messy looking hand pies.
For a moment I wondered if you had used filo dough, because the picture looked so golden.
These look fantastic! I need to dig my mixer out and make some. I am sure my family would love them.
YES for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone!! These hand pies look great!! And that filling flavor combo sounds awesome. You're a natural!
Our first experience with pasties came last fall in Montana and I really liked them. Yours look and sound delicious and your crust looks awesome.
Debby – as usual,the food looks tasty and the instructions look easy to do. YUM!
Those look great! I recently tried them myself in a fritata, and really liked the sausage.
I absolutely love savory pies. I just posted a chicken pot pie and pie crust with savory ingredients always gets my attention. Your pies look fantastic, Debby. Wish I had one right now! Great post!
This looks delicious. Sometimes I cook up some Jimmy Dean hot sausage and add cubed butternut squash and onions and my husband and I love this. I think the sausage, sweet potato combination rocks!