With Thanksgiving just days away, here’s another great dessert that everyone will love, Bourbon Sweet Potato Hand Pies! Hand pies are perfect because they’ll like individual serving pies. Both my Apple Blackberry Hand Pies and Mixed Berry Thyme Hand Pies are definite hand pie must tries too.
These Bourbon Sweet Potato Hand Pies have puréed sweet potatoes mixed with spices, brown sugar and Eagle Brand Milk condensed milk in a buttery cream cheese pie dough make these hand pies irresistible!
What main Ingredients are needed for these Pumpkin Crumb Pie Cookies?
Cream Cheese: Cream cheese is used in the pie dough. Cream cheese gives the dough a few layers and makes it more sturdier for the hand pies.
Butter: butter is mixed with the cream cheese to bind the dough together.
Flour: all purpose flour is used for the pie dough instead of cake or pastry flour because some gluten is needed for the development of the structure of the dough.
Sweet Potatoes: fresh sweet potatoes are used in the pie filling and not canned sweet potatoes. Though canned sweet potatoes can probably be substituted if fresh sweet potatoes can not be found.
Eagle Brand Milk Condensed Milk: the condensed milk is used to sweeten the filling.
Bourbon: bourbon gives the hand pies a little extra kick, but it’s optional in the recipe.
How are the Pumpkin Crumb Pie Cookies put together?
To make these hand pies, add all of the ingredients for the pie dough to a food processor and pulse until coarse. Add the apple cider vinegar and ice water to bind the dough together. Refrigerate the dough until you’re ready to use it.
For the filling, bake the sweet potatoes until they are fork tender. Some people like to peel, cut and boil the potatoes, but for me, it adds extra water to them and you don’t want a watery filling.
Purée the sweet potatoes with an egg, spices, brown sugar and Eagle Brand Milk condensed milk until smooth. Eagle Brand Milk condensed milk is made of milk and sugar, so it takes the place of evaporated milk, which is usually used in sweet potato pie. And a little brown sugar is used for the rich molasses like flavor and color.
What is used to cut out and decorate the hand pies?
Roll out half of the dough and use a 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter to cut out the rounds. To make the shapes even, I used a cut and seal type of cutter. After cutting out the round shapes, add filling to the center and top with a second pie dough round. Use the cut and seal cutter to press down on the pies to seal the edges. If you use a regular cookie cutter, then use a small fork to crimp the edges of the hand pies to seal them. You can get a cut and seal cutter on Amazon.
After all of the hand pies are made, use leaf cookie cutters and plungers to make small leaf decor. Use an egg wash of egg and milk to use as a “glue” to put the leaves on the pies. Adding the pie dough leaves are optional, but it gives the hand pies a beautiful fall aesthetic.
Bake the pies until they are golden brown, then serve.
Tips for the hand pies:
- Do not overfill the pies. You don’t want any of the filling to leak out while baking
- Be sure to cut a couple of slits in the top pie dough round. This is so the steam can escape while baking.
- Be sure to seal the edges well. Either use a cut and seal cutter or a fork to crimp the edges of the hand pies.
Commonly Asked Questions:
Can you freeze unbaked hand pies?
Yes, they can to frozen. To freeze assembled and unbaked hand pies, freeze them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once frozen, individually wrap each one in plastic wrap, the. Add them to a large sealed zip bag. They can be frozen for up to 3 months. Once frozen, there is no need to thaw them before baking. When baking them while froze, add an extra couple minutes of bake time to ensure that the filling is completely done. Baked hand pies can be wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.
Can an all butter pie dough recipe be used?
Yes, you can use an all butter pie dough like the dough used in my Cherry Cheese Pie. After making the butter pie dough, just continue the recipe as written.
Looking for other Fall pie recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Pumpkin Swirled Cheesecake Pie
Beautiful Diamond Patterned Apple Tart
So, give these a try for the holidays!
Bourbon Sweet Potato Hand Pies
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Dough
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 16 tbsp (1 cup) unsalted butter, cubed and frozen
- 8 oz cream cheese (1 bar), cold and cubed
- 5 tbsp ice water
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Filling
- 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes, from 2-3 medium potatoes
- 1 can Eagle Brand Milk condensed milk
- 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp bourbon
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp milk
Instructions
Cream Cheese Dough
- Combine flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add butter and cream cheese and pulse for a few seconds to just combine the flour and fat. Combine the ice water and vinegar in a dish. Pour in water mixture, a little at a time, until dough comes together. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap each one and place in the refrigerator for an hour or overnight.
Filling
- Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. With a fork, poke holes in the sweet potatoes, and bake on a foil lined baking sheet for about 1 hour or until soft when poked. Cool. Cut open the potatoes and scoop the insides of the potatoes into a measuring cup, and measure 2 cups. Set aside. In a bowl or a food processor, place the packed brown sugar, all of the spices, salt, butter, condensed milk, and sweet potatoes. Beat with a hand mixer or purée in a food processor. Add the egg, vanilla, and bourbon. Puree or beat again until smooth.
Assemble
- Roll out one pie dough disk on a lightly floured work surface. Use a 3 1/2 inch round cookie cutter and cut out 10-15 circles. Gather the scraps up in a ball and set aside. Roll the second dough. Cut another 10-15 circles. Gather all of the scraps together and knead into a ball. Cut out additional circles so that there are 30-40 circles total. Roll out the extra dough and use leaf and acorn cookie plungers to cut out leaf and acorn shapes. Place the decor on a small parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use. Line 1-2 large baking pans with parchment paper. Place down half of the cut out circles. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of each. Brush water around the perimeter of each round. Cut 3-4 slits in the second rounds. Place a second circle on top of the hand pies. You can also cut some of the dough into strips and make a lattice design on others if desired. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the hand pies or a cut and seal dough cutter to seal them.Beat the egg and milk in a small dish. Brush the egg wash on top of each hand pie. Decorate the tops of the pies with the leaves and acorn cut outs. Brush the pies with the egg wash. Place the baking sheet into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. This will help the dough cut outs hold their shape during the baking process. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust browns. Remove and let cool slightly.
