By the end of the week, our fridge needs a really good clean out.  There are leftovers here and there and frankly, I never really feel like cooking a new meal  – especially if I’ve had a long week and the kids are tired.

So a while back, we decided to make Friday night Pie Night!

Pie Night is super easy and to be honest, you could stand there with a glass of wine just keeping a supervisory eye on your chillies while they actually do the little bit of work involved in putting the pies together.

All you need:

To make 12 Friday night pies, you’ll need 3 sheets of Puff Pastry.  A good point to note is that it doesn’t matter how cheap the Puff Pastry is, it all seems to do the job.  So I now buy the largest pack of sheets I can find and just keep them in the freezer.  The sheets separate really easily because they have plastic in between so just using a few sheets is no problem.  After you’ve taken off the number of sheets you need, simply wrap the remaining sheets tightly in cling wrap (make sure it’s airtight otherwise your edges may end up with freezer burn) and put straight back into the freezer.

The next ingredient is any leftovers or fillings you think would be yummy in a pie. Last night we had some Beef & Red Wine Casserole left from a slow cooker meal during the week and had a few apples that weren’t at their best anymore.

The How to:

1. The first thing to do is cut each sheet of puff pastry into 4 squares – they don’t have to be perfect.

2. Then in the centre of each side of each square make a cut about 3cm long – you’ll need this cut when you want to create your ‘cup’ shape in the next step.

3. Take a muffin tray and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Then take one of the small squares of pastry and at each cut, overlap the edges – this will bring the sides in and create the cup shape.  Then sit this into one of the muffin divets in the tray.

4. Spoon in the fillings you’re going to use.  You should aim to only put enough filling to take it to the top of the muffin tray – not to the top of the pastry.  Otherwise (like we did) you’ll have mini volcano pies!  So you’ll see from our shot that we did some Beef & Red Wine pies and the others were Apple & Raspberry pies (SO good with custard and ice cream – for the kids of course)

5. Once all the pie cases are full, you then need to bring each corner together and then pinch them closed.

6. This step is optional but giving them a little brush with a little egg or milk will help the puff pastry brown up beautifully.

7. Then into the oven to cook and crisp up – keep a close eye as they won’t take too long.  I don’t know exactly but it’s usually between 12 and 15 minutes per tray.

8. Out they come and how good do they look.  We put out an assortment of sauces (tomato, bbq and I quite like a little bit of tang that comes with a Spicy Tomato Relish).  The kids help themselves … and I let them have their pies while they watch TV (with a big tea towel on their laps to catch the drips)!!

Have fun with these pies as the sky is the limit.  Our favourite weekend treat is to make a big batch of these and instead of leftovers we crack one egg into each pie case, sprinkle with finely sliced bacon and a shake of salt & pepper.  They are the most amazing addition to any picnic.  Again a yummy chutney on the side or just as is.  My kids adore them and have all been eating them since they were big enough to hold the pastry in their little fists.

Enjoy these little treasures – just so quick, easy and they actually look pretty spiffy for a brunch, casual drinks with friends or Friday night movie night.