Italian Sausage and Cheese Hand Pies

This was another recipe born out of leftovers. I had 1/2 pound of leftover Italian sausage and 1 refrigerated pie crust. I always have marinara sauce and cheese on hand, so these came together in a snap.

You can use sweet or hot sausage - and you can use turkey, chicken and soy varieties too! Have fun with these, that's what it's all about!

Oh, and, DON'T EVEN THINK about using a fork!

Italian Sausage and Cheese Hand Pies

1/2 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, if purchased in casing, remove from casing
1/2 cup marinara sauce
9-inch refrigerated pie crust
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Add the marinara sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a minute or two, until the sauce is reduced. Remove the pan from the heat.
Unroll the pie crust onto a flat surface. Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into 12 rounds. You'll need to reroll the scraps to get 12 rounds from one 9-inch pie crust.
Arrange 6 of the rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture onto the center of each round.  Top with the cheese. Here's what it will look like:

 Top each hand pie with the second round of dough, like this:

Press the two crusts together with a fork to seal. Like this: 

Brush the pies with the beaten egg. They'll look like this:

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
Eat with your hands - I mean, they're called HAND pies!

Makes 6 hand pies