Labor Of Love: Chicken Pot Pie

I have been wanting to make a chicken pot pie for a while now, however I really wanted to find mini ceramic pie plates to serve individual pot pies. Well, I was very lucky recently and received a gift card to Crate and Barrel for Christmas. I went there on Monday and they had these mini pie plates on clearance! You can only imagine how excited I was! This was such a good recipe and after finding out that there were no onions or mushrooms in them, ET was about as excited to eat it as I was. :)

I played around with the crust a bit. With one pot pie I placed the crust on the top and bottom. The bottom crust cooked in the same amount of time as the ones without. Jay liked it that way, but I just think it was too much crust. For a couple of the pies I cut the crust to fit and crimped the edges with a fork. For a the other pies, I cut the crust larger and let it hang down over the pie plate. I preferred this method...it was easy, looked nice, and gave the perfect amount of crust.

The recipe for the filling of these pot pies are delicious. I was able to make four mini pot pies with it. If in the future, I do not have the time to make the homemade crust, I will use this filling recipe with a store-bought pie crust.

Filling recipe from Mommy's Kitchen
1 whole chicken, pulled from bone and chunked (you can buy the precooked rotisserie chicken)
1/3 cup - real butter
1/3 cup - flour
1/2 t. minced garlic
1/2 t. salt
dash of pepper
1-1/2 cup - warm water
2/3 cup- milk
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1-2 cups- frozen mixed veggies

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, garlic, and spices till blended. Slowly stir in the warm water, bouillon cubes, and milk. Slowly bring a soft boil and stir constantly for about 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and add the frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, celery, whichever you prefer!) and chicken. Fill the shells.

Crust recipe from Annie's Eats
16 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
10 oz. cream cheese, chilled
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 large egg - to brush the top of the pie once assembled
*If making only a top crust for your pie, I would cut this recipe in half.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. To make the crust, cut the butter into 16 pieces. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the butter and flour until crumbly. Add the cream cheese, salt and pepper. Continue pulsing just until the dough forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface (I did not need more flour to work with). Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out dough rounds with a pizza cutter, and lay the dough over the filling of your pot pie. Beat the egg with a whisk, and brush the tops of the dough rounds lightly with the beaten egg.

Place the pot pie dishes on a baking sheet for easy transfer in and out of the oven. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Here is the pie with the top and bottom crust and crimped edges...