Chicken Chile Relleno Pies

You want these.  They're among the best things I've made all year.  These Chicken Chile Relleno Pies are made of a cornmeal dough that's wonderfully sandy and a bit crumbly, and filled with roasted poblanos, chicken, cheese, and corn.  The ingredients, rather than standing out individually, all melt together into delicious, savory mouthfuls.  The poblanos and ancho chile powder heat it up with Southwest flavor.

The pies are admittedly labor-intensive and time-consuming, but you won't regret it.  Double the cornmeal dough recipe, which yielded only enough dough for me to use half of the filling.  Set aside time to make them all, then freeze and reheat to snack on whenever.  They would make a good potluck contribution, but if you're like me you'll hoard just about all of them.  This is the kind of comfort food you'll want to warm yourself up with all winter.

Apple Butter Hand Pies

I have only one complaint about this recipe, and it's that these mini-pies can't hold any more apple butter.  So I spread more on top of a hand pie like it's toast.  But spoon more apple butter inside and it just squeezes out the sides when the pastry is folded up.  The crust is nice too, made tender and slightly tangy with the addition of cream cheese, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  It comes out softer than your usual pie crust, almost like a cookie.  The pies are also good reheated in the toaster oven the day after.

The apple butter took some time to make, but not much work.  I used 6 pounds of Galas from the farmers market.  It was my first taste ever of apple butter, and I found it to be somewhere between applesauce and apple pie filling, and nicely spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and clove.  You won't use it all up in the pies like the recipe indicates, but that's all right with me: The apple butter is also great on top of pancakes, or as part of a grilled cheese sandwich.  I think pear butter has to be next on my list.