Breakfast Hand Pies Recipe

Once upon a time — that time being your own elementary school days — the ultimate portable breakfast was a Pop Tart. Unless your family were really fancy, in which case you might have experienced the true luxury that is a Toaster Strudel. The best thing about Pop Tarts' puffier cousins is that they also came in a savory version, Toaster Scrambles, which were loaded with cheese and breakfast meats. Nowadays, it's hard to find a hipster coffee shop that doesn't offer some variant of homemade Pop Tarts, but where are the artisanal Toaster Scrambles?

Right here, that's where, with recipe developer Erin Johnson's breakfast hand pies. She compares these to "homemade Toaster Strudels" (technically Toaster Scrambles) and suggests that you could even decorate them with condiments similar to how you used to use the little icing packets that come with Toaster Strudels. These hand pies are a little fussy to make, what with all the dough folding and twisting, but at least you're starting out with frozen puff pastry so you don't have to make them 100% from scratch. Oh, and they're not exactly pockets, nor are they traditionally pies in the sense of pastry-encased filling. Instead, these are basically pastry squares topped with a tasty mixture of eggs, cheese, and breakfast meats — consider them the Toaster Scramble's older, more mature sibling!

To make these pies, you'll be using a full package of frozen puff pastry. Johnson does note, though, that you can just use one of the two pastry sheets in the box to make a smaller batch, in which case you would "simply halve all of the ingredients."

For the filling, Johnson uses bacon, breakfast sausage, and shredded cheddar cheese, although she says "you can use any breakfast meats or cheese you'd like." You'll also need eggs and some chopped chives as a garnish. This last ingredient isn't strictly necessary, however, if you do no have or don't care for chives.

Thaw the puff pastry. When it is nearly thawed, preheat the oven to 400 F. When the pastry has thawed to the point where you can manipulate it, cut each sheet into four equal pieces. Fold each piece in half along the diagonal to form a triangle, then cut a slit through both of the sides on the top edge, ¼-inch from the top corner. Unfold the pastry and cross each side to make a frame. If that sounds too complicated, Johnson has a solution: "If you don't want to cut and twist the pastry, just score a smaller square in the pastry without cutting all the way through." This, she allows, "will achieve the same effect with almost zero effort."

Place the pastry squares on a sheet pan that you've first greased or lined with parchment paper or silicon. Beat one egg, then brush the pastries with the egg. (Save the remaining egg for the next step.) Put the pastry in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Break open all the rest of the eggs and mix them together, adding in whatever egg you've got left from the egg wash. Scramble them over medium heat until they are cooked, then season them with salt and pepper to taste.

Fry up the bacon and sausages, too. If you are using sausage links, you may want to chop them up. If you bought loose sausage, of course there's no need to do this. Bacon strips can be left whole or chopped up as per your preference. If you bought pre-shredded cheese, you're good to go. If not, shred the cheese now, too. Also, go ahead and chop the chives if you're using those.

Bake the partially-frozen pastry squares in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then take them out of the oven and poke the centers with a fork to deflate them. Once you've created a square-shaped depression in the center of each square, top these with the eggs, bacon, and sausage and finish things off with the cheese. Put them back in the oven and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the cheese is melted.

Sprinkle the pastry squares with chives before serving, if desired. These breakfast pastries are best served warm, but Johnson does say that "you can pre-make these and [re]heat them in the air fryer." We hope you enjoy this unique and delicious breakfast recipe!