Crawfish Hand Pies

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 chopped green onions, about ¼ cup
• 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 pound peeled Louisiana crawfish tails
• 1 tablespoon (2 cloves) chopped garlic
• 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup Blue Plate® Mayonnaise + extra for brushing the pies
• 1 teaspoon Louisiana-style hot sauce
• 1 package pie dough (enough for 2 9-inch pies), refrigerated

Directions

1. Make the filling: Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper, celery and green onion and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes longer. Add the Creole seasoning, cayenne pepper, crawfish tails, garlic, cream cheese and parsley; stir to combine.
2. Remove from heat and cool slightly, then mix in the ½ cup of mayonnaise and the hot sauce. Place the filling in a covered container in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before making the pies. (The filling can be made a day in advance and refrigerated.)
3. Make the Hand Pies: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unroll one sheet at a time. Roll the dough out slightly on a floured surface and cut into 4-inch rounds, about 6 rounds per sheet. Save the dough scraps to make more rounds. (Form the scraps into a ball and roll out to ⅛ inch thick as needed to make more rounds.) Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of each round.
4. Brush each round lightly with mayonnaise. Fold the dough over to form a half-circle. Using a fork, crimp the edges to seal. Brush each pie with ½ to 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise as an egg wash. Repeat the process with the remaining pie dough and filling.
5. Bake until golden brown and heated through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.

KITCHEN TIP

Crawfish Hand Pies can be made ahead of time and frozen.

To oven cook from frozen, arrange pies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 375°F until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

To air-fry from frozen, preheat the air fryer to 360℉. Make 3 small cuts with a sharp knife on the top of each pie to prevent it from popping open in the air fryer. Brush ½ teaspoon of mayonnaise on the top of each hand pie. Place 2 to 4 pies (depending on the air fryer size) in the air fryer and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Repeat with remaining hand pies.