These little bites pack a bit of a bite, yet are tasty enough for the kiddos.
And they freeze well too!
With Thanksgiving out of the way, bring on December! I ate way too much turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pie this past weekend.
Not to say I didn't love every single minute of it, but my waistline needs a bit of a break. Anyone else use the My Fitness Pal app on their phone? I love it. It is great for tracking your daily calories, whether that be a simple ham and cheese sandwich out of your fridge or whether you are eating at a restaurant. That darn app has it all! Every brand, every restaurant, everything.
It's pretty awesome. Check it out. And no they are not paying me to say that....I just really like it.
I did not plug in these Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies yet, but I need to. For about three days in a row a couple weeks back I ate two for lunch each day.
Keeping it traditional, I stuffed these pockets with some sauteed veggies {carrot, onion, celery}, lots of wing sauce, seasoned chicken and cheese.
And the dough? Probably the easiest dough I've ever made. I'm serious. It only has three ingredients. I might freaking make this dough and stuff it with everything I own, it's that easy.
I may have had a dream about stuffing it with Nutella.
And then mushrooms, sausage, pizza sauce and fresh mozzarella.
And finally maybe pot pie style.
All separately of course.
I'm not sure about you guys, but we get in some major lunch ruts around this house. I can only serve so many turkey sandwiches, quesadillas, pb&j's and leftovers before someone starts squawking about how they are 'sick of everything I serve for lunch'.
Poor kids.
If they only knew 99.9% of mothers are not food bloggers and I'm probably feeding them pretty darn well most of the time.
Enter in these buffalo chicken hand pies on a random Thursday when they were in full on complain mode and suddenly I was mother-of-the-year.
The crust on these are flaky, yet thick and buttery and the chicken is so darn flavorful I would reach through your computer screen right now and grab you if I could and bring you back through mine to serve you some.
Wouldn't that be fun?
And hey, let me know if you make these. I'm always wanting feedback {only if good, of course....kidding}. Better yet, if you stuff this dough with something else fantastic I'd love to hear it. My mind won't stop thinking of fun combinations.
Buffalo Chicken Hand Pies
1/2 c. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1.5 c. flour
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 c. carrot, finely diced
1/2 c. celery, finely diced
1/2 chopped onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. wing sauce {less, if wanting not as spicy}
1/2 c. ranch or bleu cheese dressing
2. c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
2 T. olive oil
1 egg
water
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a stand mixer combine the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in flour until dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
3. In a skillet, heat olive oil to medium-high heat. Add in carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute until translucent and veggies are tender.
4. Add in the chicken, cooking with the vegetables until no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper and add in the wing sauce and dressing, tossing to coat. Remove from the heat and set aside.
5. On a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4 in. thickness, big enough to cut into 8 squares. Place 2-3 spoonfuls of the chicken mixture on one edge of the dough, topping with cheese. Fold the dough over and press seams together with a fork.
6. Place the hand pies on a baking sheet. Mix the egg with a bit of water and brush egg wash over the hand pies.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Serve warm with additional ranch or bleu cheese dressing. If wanting to freeze, lay unbaked hand pies on a baking sheet and freeze. Then place in a plastic baggie in the freezer. To bake from frozen, simply add on a few more minutes of baking time.
How about some other buffalo chicken fun? This Buffalo Chicken Cobb Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing will cure the winter blues. And these Pulled Buffalo Chicken Sliders are super fun for entertaining. They are also included on my latest meal plan, if you missed it. Finally why not turn this power packed flavor into a Mexican dish? We love these Spicy Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas.
