Mini Potato Top Pies

Everyone loves a good pie, not only are they delicious but they are the perfect winter warmer for both lunch and dinner. These mini beef pies with a potato top are easy to put together and taste as great as anything you would find in your favorite bakery.

Instead of making one big pie, I used a 6 hole giant muffin pan to create these little one serve pies, using my icing icing tube to pipe on the potato. I was a bit paranoid about whether this would work or not. I spent a while making sure my potato was super well mashed but even so I was still scared that the potato would get stuck in the tube tip. Turns out that this wasn't even a slight problem, thankfully it worked beautifully!

This recipe is a good way to sneak those extra veggies onto the kids' plates too!

Mini Potato Top Pies

Makes 6

600 g (21 oz) ground beef
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large carrot, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Cup beef stock
3 Sheets of reduced fat savory short crust pastry
Mashed potato (I used 4 large potatoes)

1. Heat a dash of oil in a large fry pan. Fry the onion and the garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the beef and continue to cook until the beef is browned.

2. Add the carrot, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and beef stock. Bring to a simmer and simmer gently for 30 minutes, until the sauce is reduced and thick.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Grease a Giant/Texas muffin pan and line the base and side of each hole with pastry. I rolled out the store-brought pastry sheets a bit, cut in half and used half a sheet per hole. (I also blind baked the pastry for 10 minutes, but this is up to you!)

4. Spoon in the beef mixture, top with potato and bake for 30 minutes, until the top of the potato is golden and the pastry cooked.