Chicken Pot Pies

CHICKEN POT PIE

MADE FROM SCRATCH

INGREDIENTS

For the insides:

Leftover hand shredded chicken (about 1 pound / 3 chicken thighs)
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup chopped celery

For the gravy: 

1/3 cup butter (3/4ths a stick)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk or cream

For the pie crust dough:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter
1/2 cup ice water
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

PIE CRUST

Make two batches of pie crust dough. I use a recipe I found in my Outlander Kitchen book. It's my favorite recipe and the dough comes out perfect. Every. Time.

1. Put a cup of purified water in the freezer; you will need this soon.

2. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Grate the butter into the dry ingredients and mix until you have pea sized lumps roughly the color of cornmeal.

4. Whisk together a half a cup of ice water, 1 egg yolk, and 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Make a hole in your dry ingredients like a well, and pour the liquid mixture into it, mixing it all together until it forms a shaggy ball.

5. Pour your dough onto a floured surface and roll it into a ball. Break it into two balls, flattening them into two 1/2 inch thick disks. Wrap them both separately in their own press n' seal plastic and put them in the fridge to set for 30 minutes. 

6. Repeat this process again with the remainder of your ice water for a second batch of pie crust. 

PIE INNARDS

1. Shred your chicken. This is preferably done the night before after you've made a chicken dinner, as the chicken gets cold and hard to shred once it's sat in the fridge for a while. For this recipe, I shredded about three chicken thighs that had been baked the night before, and that was a perfect amount for 12 muffin sized pies and 2 slightly bigger pies. 

2. Simmer the chicken, carrots, celery, and peas in a pan for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside for later. 

3. Make the gravy. Sautee 1/3 cup of chopped onions in 1/3 cup of butter until translucent. Add the spices (salt, pepper, celery seed). Add 1/3rd cup of all purpose baking flour. Then add 2/3 cup of milk (I sometimes use cream instead; it makes it tastier). Add 1 and 3/4 cups of chicken broth. Mix on the stove until it's thick like gravy. 

4. Preheat your oven at this point in time to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

1. This is the time consuming part. Roll out your dough on a floured surface until it's about 1/8th inch thick. You want it to be a little thicker so it's more pliable when fitting it in the muffin tins. Remember to spray the muffin tins with a generous helping of baking Pam before putting the dough in there. 

2. Cut out circles to fit your muffin tins with a little bit of overflow. You'll need the overflow to crimp the dough.

3. Fill the cups with the chicken mixture and the gravy. Fill them almost to the top.

4. Once the cups are filled, roll out more dough and cut toppers for them. Use a fork to crimp the edges (this is very important, otherwise the top won't bake properly and the filling will spill out). Cut out small slits in a pattern at the top of the pie so that they can steam in the oven.

5. Brush an egg wash on the tops so they'll turn out golden in the oven. 

6. Pop them in the oven for about 30 - 35 minutes until the crust is cooked and golden. 

7. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then carefully move them to a cooling rack. Let them cool off for at least 10 minutes before serving.

8. Enjoy!