Breakfast Hand Pies Will Make You Forget Egg Sandwiches

There is something about meat and other fillings, all encased inside some sort of glutinous component, and able to be eaten out of hand. There's a reason that nearly every culture has a hand pie. Look at Mexico and the empanada, or India and the samosa, or the United States and the egg roll (you didn't really think those were Chinese, did you?). Then there's the United Kingdom, and what is perhaps one of their greatest gifts to us (besides the Spice Girls): The hand pie. Hand pies are incredibly versatile, with everything from apple fillings to ham and swiss. But did you know they make a pretty mean breakfast item, too?

Just add your favorite breakfast sandwich ingredients — bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, etc. — onto puff pastry rectangles, place matching puff pastry rectangles over top of them, crimp the edges together with a fork, and make sure to cut a slit in the top before popping them in the oven. The puff pastry expands as it bakes and turns into a golden, flaky crust that is a match for any bagel or English muffin out there. Plus, because the fillings are totally encapsulated on all sides, there is a lot less chance that they'll slide out the bottom whenever you take a bite (a sorry and common occurrence with breakfast sandwiches, unfortunately).

While you can certainly make just one breakfast hand pie at a time, it's a lot easier to use up all the finicky puff pastry (especially if you learned a new cooking skill and made it by hand) and make half a dozen or so at one time. To store in the fridge, let them cool completely and then wrap individually with plastic wrap before stashing them in a gallon-size plastic bag. Wrapping them individually will keep them from flaking off bits of pastry as they bump into each other or the bag gets moved around. Hand pies are good in the fridge for up to three days. To reheat, the best way is a few minutes in the air fryer.

You can also freeze your breakfast hand pies for up to three months. We'd recommend wrapping them in plastic wrap, then adding a layer of aluminum foil, then placing them in a gallon freezer bag for best protection against your freezer's chilly air. To reheat, let thaw overnight and then reheat as you would refrigerated hand pies; or from frozen, add a few minutes onto the cook time. Keep an eye on your pies, though, because you don't want them to burn!