These savoury pies are little hand pies filled with pork and apple that you can send kids to school with. They are made with frozen empanada dough for a simple weekend baking project to feed you through the week!
Heat butter in non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the cubed apple and sauté to soften/cook the apple. Stir it carefully every so often so it doesn't burn.
Add fresh thyme, Maple Leaf Natural Selections Roasted Shredded Pork, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Transfer to a dish and let cool.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment.
Place a round of empanada dough on your work surface. Place a heaping spoonful of the pork and apple mixture (about 1/12th of the mixture) in the center. Brush the edge with egg wash all the way around, then fold over the dough to form a half moon. Press the edges together very well, then crimp/shape the edge. You can use a fancy folding technique to pinch the edges or just use a fork. Place on the prepared baking sheets.
Repeat with the rest of filling/dough until you've made 10 to 12 pork pies.
Brush the surface of the hand pies with egg wash.
Bake in the preheated oven for a good 45 minutes, rotating the pans as necessary.
Notes
You can buy ready made, rolled out empanada (made with pork fat) at some grocery stores. It's sold frozen, so you will have to defrost it in the fridge overnight before making your pork pies.
If you can't find empanada dough, you can use the same weight of your favourite pie dough.
If you want a homemade empanada dough recipe, check ou the Simple Bites cookbook by Aimee on Amazon. I've tried her empanada dough recipe and it is excellent!
The Maple Leaf® Natural Selections® Slow Roasted Shredded Pork is available at grocery stores in Canada. I bought it at a Metro grocery store in Montreal.