Sweetie Pies (or Uses for Leftover Halloween Treats) and Kleeneze Competition Winner Announced!

Not that I have children, but I was wondering what on earth you would do with all those sweets kids pick up on their ‘trick or treating’ expeditions? 
Children must get loads of goodies that you maybe don’t want them to gobble up straight away. Or perhaps, like me, you buy lots of sweets ready to hand out, but end up with leftovers.

So, I thought of a fun way to use fun-size treats (which are always my go to sweets for Halloween hand-outs). It also makes me think of a ‘classic’ Scottish recipe – ‘Deep-fried Mars Bars’ (which I think everybody outside of Scotland mistakenly thinks we scoff all the time).

Truth be told, I have had one deep-fried Mars Bar in my life, back in the 80’s when I was at school. Not something I would want to repeat in a hurry!
Back to this treat though, and instead of frying said bars, how about wrapping them in pastry like a little hand-pie? And here in Scotland we call chocolate bars, candy bars, all confectionary ‘Sweeties’. So the name Sweetie Pies was an obvious choice.

I chilled the bars before popping them in the oven as I didn’t want then to run everywhere. I used shop-bought puff-pastry to make things easy and drizzled some chocolate over them when baked – so people didn’t mistake them for sausage rolls!

They are fun, perfect for anyone who loves sweet pies and are so much better than a deep-fried Mars Bar!
Here’s how I made them;
print recipe

Sweetie Pies by Stuart Vettese November-06-2014Sweeties wrapped up in pastry!Ingredients

• 2 packages shop-bought ready-rolled puff pastry
• 15 approx fun-size chocolate bars
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 30 grams dark chocolate melted

InstructionsChill the chocolate bars in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Unfurl one sheet of the chilled pastry and place the chocolate bars on top in rows, spaced well apart. Make an egg-wash from the milk and egg and brush this over the exposed parts of the pastry. Unfurl the other sheet of pastry and lay over the top of the bars. Gently press in between each bar so the top pastry sticks to bottom sheet . Take a pizza cutter and carefully cut between each chocolate bar. Crimp the edges of each pastry parcel with the tines of a fork. Prick the top of each pastry parcel gently with a fork. Pop into the fridge to chill and pre-heat the oven to 180C. After 20 minutes remove the chilled ‘pies’ and brush the tops with more egg wash. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Allow to cool fully. Drizzle some melted chocolate on top.DetailsPrep time: 40 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 50 mins Yield: 15 mini-pies
And lastly congratulations go to Kevin from The Crafty Larder who won the Kleeneze competition with his Spiced Pumpkin Cake in  Jar!