Spooky Chorizo Hand Pies

Pie Dough (Empanada Dough)

1. Place the flour and salt together in a bowl. Whisk to combine well.
2. Add the butter, and rub it into the flour using your fingers (or in a food processor), until the flour-butter mix resembles coarse crumbs (or wet coarse sand), with some pea-sized butter chunks still left in the flour mix.
3. If you used a food processor to mix the butter and flour, transfer the flour-butter mix back into a large bowl.
4. Mix ¼ cup of the ice water with the vinegar and egg. Whisk to combine.
5. Make a well in the middle of the flour mix. Add the water-yolk mix and use a fork or your fingers to distribute the liquid through the flour. Add the rest of the water (in increments), until all the liquid is fully incorporated in the flour.
6. Next, use your hands to knead the dough to form a dough ball.
7. If the dough is too dry, add ice water, 1 tbsp (or less) at a time, up to 3 tbsp. The dough should come together to make a pliable dough that's not too sticky, but still soft. If it still seems too dry, dip just your fingers in ice water and without shaking off any excess water, knead the dough with wet fingers. If the dough is too sticky, then sprinkle a little flour and gently mix it in.
8. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and flatten it into a rectangle shape. Fold the dough into thirds, to form 3 layers. Gently press the dough into another rectangle shape and repeat the folding one more time.
9. Next, form a disc with the pastry dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. If you make the dough the day before and the dough is chilled, let the dough soften slightly at room temperature.

Chorizo Filling

1. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
2. When the pan is hot, add the onions (with about 2 tsp of oil), and let them soften slightly.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, and break the pork and chorizo meat into pieces while cooking. Add a generous pinch of salt. Mix to combine.
4. Cook the meat for about 15 - 20 minutes until the pork mince is cooked through. Taste and add more salt if needed. Keep the pan at an angle to drain the excess oil (this is optional, but recommended). Place the rest of the filling in a bowl and refrigerate to cool down the filling.

Assembly

1. When you’re ready to make the pies, preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking tray or half sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside until needed.
2. Roll out the chilled pie dough on a lightly floured smooth surface, until the dough is about 3 mm thick. To ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface, lightly dust the surface with flour, and flip the dough over half way through rolling (this will help prevent shrinking of the dough and it will roll out better too). Again make sure the rolled out dough isn’t sticking to the surface before you cut the pumpkin shapes.
3. Cut as many pumpkin shaped pieces (with a 4-inch pumpkin cookie cutter) from the rolled out pie dough. Re-roll the scraps and cut more pumpkin shapes. You should get approximately 30 pumpkin shapes.
4. Create faces on 15 of the pumpkin-shaped cutouts. You can use smaller circle and triangle cutters to cut eyes, and a sharp knife to cut out rough mouths.
5. On an uncut piece of pumpkin shaped pie dough, place a few pieces of shredded manchego cheese and oaxaca cheese. Then place a generous amount of the chilled chorizo filling over the cheese. Moisten the edges of the pie dough, and then cover this pie dough with a face shaped pie dough piece. Press down the edges to seal. The face shaped pie dough should easily stretch over the filling. Use a fork to crimp the edges.
6. Place the hand pie on the parchment paper lined baking tray, and repeat with all the pies.
7. When all the pies have been prepared, brush the top of the pies with egg wash (the pumpkin faces).
8. Transfer the hand pies to the oven, and bake for 20 - 30 minutes, until the pies are a golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool slightly. Serve warm.