Cincinnati Chili Hand Pies
I just recently got my first slow cooker, and I've been debating on what would be my first creation. I thought it would be pulled pork, but I decided on making Cincinnati-style Chili Hand Pies instead. (The recipe is at the end of this post.)
It combines an old childhood favorite of mine – while growing up in Ohio – and my recent love of hand pies and empanadas since moving to New York.
Growing up in Ohio as a child, my two uncles would take my brother and I to Skyline after Reds and Bengals games in Cincinnati.
In college, I ate my fair share of Gold Star with my buddies at Ohio University in Athens.
Unfortunately... after moving to New York, I've probably had Cincinnati-style chili three times in 18 years. How much does that stink?!
The urge to have this childhood favorite was probably what pushed me to make this my first slow cooker creation. Also, I want my son to enjoy it in the future, as well.
Using a combination of two Cincinnati chili recipes from online, I shopped for the ingredients at Food Emporium. Because I'm such a cooking noob, the prep time was more than 10 minutes for me – unlike what the recipes instructed.
Then everything was poured into the slow cooker, and it did the rest of the work for the next 8 hours.
When the fourth hour rolled around, the apartment smelled glorious.
When the eighth hour was up, I removed the thawed puff pastry from the fridge and turned off the slow cooker.
I took a spaghetti strainer and placed it in a large bowl, and started scooping the chili from the slow cooker into the strainer.
The reason for straining the meat... this excess fat and liquid – you see in the picture above – will spoil the rounds of puff pastry, and make it nearly impossible to make the hand pies.
This is how the meat should look (above) when putting one healthy spoonful of strained chili on each round.
Then I topped off the meat with a mix of shredded cheddar cheese before folding up the hand pie.
Here's a really quick video on how to fold a hand pie or empanada correctly.
I made 12 hand pies using two boxes of puff pastry sheets, and froze the rest of the chili. There was enough left over to easily make 12-16 more hand pies... if not more.
Check out the recipe below, so you can make these delicious snacks, yourself.
Cincinnati Chili Hand Pies
Serves: 20-24 Large hand pies
Slow Cooker Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Hand Pie Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
Oven Time: 10-15 minutes
Author: Slow Cooker Cincinnati Chili recipe adapted from ChewNibbleNosh.com and AllRecipes.com.
2 cans low-sodium beef broth
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Large yellow onion, diced
2-4 Boxes of puff pastry sheets
Finely shredded cheddar cheese
In a medium-sized bowl (or large plastic container with a lid), whisk (or shake) together the tomato sauce, tomato paste, broth, bay leaf, vinegar, chili powder, cocoa, cumin, vegetable oil, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, salt and pepper. Pour mixture into slow cooker. Stir in garlic and yellow onion.
Break up the ground beef with hands (or spoon) in the sauce and mix together. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours. Stir a few times during that period of time.
While chili is cooking, place puff pastry sheets into fridge so they thaw out.
When chili is finished cooking, put a spaghetti strainer in a large bowl. Start spooning 12-24 tablespoons worth of chili into the strainer. This number of scoops should correspond with the number of hand pies you will make.
Preheat the oven to 400˚.
While chili is straining, lay one sheet of thawed puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface.
Cut four rounds of puff pastry from the sheet with a bowl that is roughly 4-5 inches in diameter.
Place a spoonful of strained chili on each round of puff pastry.
Top each spoonful of chili with finely shredded cheddar cheese
Wet the outside edge of the hand pie with your finger – this way when you fold the hand pie over, the puff pastry will stick together.
Then begin folding the edges over like the video above illustrates.
Place the sealed hand pies on a baking sheet, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown – like in my pictures above.
Halfway through the baking process, sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top of the hand pies.
When the hand pies are golden brown, remove the hand pies from the oven and place them on a rack to cool for five minutes.
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