Savory Mini Chicken Pies

Gluten free high protein meat pies

These pretty little things were created to deal with my urge for baked carbs, my most troublesome feature of Seasonal Affected Disorder. I try to keep 2 days weekly for mostly cruciferous veggies but the weather is rainy and a bit on the dull side so that craving for something warm and chewy hit hard on one of those days. Usually my forays into baking are to bring you experiments with the recipes of other bloggers. That’s where I learned all about playing with low-carb and gluten-free flours ( NOT the same thing, btw) and getting the types of texture that soothe my chewy carb tooth. I figure now is a good time to start making more of my own recipes since we only have 3 weeks left in 2013, right? These mini meat pies use in a cupcake tin:

1 cup Almond flour

1/2 cup flax meal

2 egg whites

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1tsp thyme

black pepper to taste

2 tbsp COLD butter, coconut oil or ghee

1/4-1/2 lb of chicken

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt together. Crumble fat ( butter, coconut oil, ghee) into dry mixture with your fingers until you have pea and marble sized pieces throughout. Add egg white and mix into dough until sticky and cohesive. Spray cupcake openings with nonstick coconut oil. Press tbsps of dough into 4 cupcake openings then press indentation in middle for meat.

* Prepare chicken last to prevent cross contamination!

Place raw chicken in processor with 1/2 tsp of salt, thyme and black pepper. Pulse until well blended. Scoop into center of dough mixture. Sprinkle each with thyme if you like. Bake for 30 mins.

Review: These came out a bit dry so I will be refining the recipe even more to add moisture. Your comments and tips are welcome!