Recipe: Classic Fried Pies with Sweet Potato Filling, Fried Sweet Potato Pies

Bojangles recipe is not available on the Internet at this time. What I did find is a Fried Sweet Potato Pie recipe that you could adapt.

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CLASSIC FRIED PIES WITH SWEET POTATO FILLING

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1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup lard
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. sugar
8 to 12 Tbsp. ice water
1 recipe Sweet Potato-Fig Filling, recipe below
Peanut oil for deep-fat frying
Sugar

Place butter and lard in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Place flour, salt, and the 1 teaspoon sugar on a large cutting board. Mix them with your fingers to blend. Place cold butter and lard on flour mixture. Use a pastry scraper or large kitchen knife to roughly cut butter and lard into the flour mixture. (Some butter and lard will be finely cut in, and some will be in 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces.)

Working quickly, gather the flour mixture in a mound. Use your fingers to shape a lengthwise trench through center. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the ice water along the length of the trench. With upturned fingers toss and fluff together flour mixture and water. Repeat to reshape, sprinkle ice water, and toss and fluff. After incorporating 8 tablespoons of ice water, dough should begin to clump. If necessary, repeat to add more water.

Gather rough dough with a pastry scraper. Working quickly, use the heel of your hand to smear (push away) egg-size pieces of dough, one at a time. Regather dough and repeat process.

Gather dough in mound. Wrap in a double-thickness of plastic wrap. Press with palms of hands to flatten. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

On a lightly floured surface roll chilled dough about 1/2 inch thick. Brush excess flour from surface of dough. Fold dough in thirds, brushing flour off the underside of dough as it is folded over. Lightly press layers together with a rolling pin. Wrap dough in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

WHEN READY TO COOK:
On lightly floured surface, roll out cold dough to an even 1/8-inch thickness. With 3-inch round cutter, cut 24 circles, rerolling dough as needed. (If dough becomes warm, transfer to baking sheet and refrigerate about 5 minutes.)

Spoon a generous teaspoonful of filling on center of each circle. Lightly moisten dough edges. Fold in half, pinching edges to seal. Refrigerate sealed pies until ready to fry.

Fill a very deep 10-inch cast-iron skillet half full with oil. Heat over medium heat 365 degrees F. Fry pies, a few at a time, about 3 minutes, until golden brown, turning as needed to cook evenly. Drain on cooling racks. Cool slightly; roll in sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

SWEET POTATO-FILLING:

3 medium-size sweet potatoes
Dried figs, stems removed, cut in half (to equal 1/4 cup, packed)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. On foil-lined baking sheet bake two medium-size sweet potatoes for 1 1/2 hours or until very soft.

Meanwhile, place figs in small saucepan; barely cover with water. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, about 15 minutes until softened. Cool slightly, drain, and finely chop. Stir in 1 tablespoon honey; set aside.

Remove potatoes from oven and cool slightly. Peel potatoes. In a large bowl mash potato flesh until smooth. Mix in butter, brown sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Stir figs into sweet potato mixture. Cool completely before filling pies.

Makes 24 pies
Source: Better Homes and Gardens

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FRIED SWEET POTATO PIES

Meet the Cook: "With my dad being a farmer who grew them, sweet potatoes have graced our table for as long as I can recall. These, though, resulted from an experiment at a church bake sale when we had excess pastry. People couldn't get enough!" -Marilyn Moseley, Toccoa, Georgia

FOR THE DOUGH:
4 1/2 cups self-rising flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup milk

FOR THE FILLING:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Oil for deep-fat frying
Confectioners' sugar, optional

In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine eggs and milk; add to crumb mixture, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. Cover and chill several hours.

In a large bowl, combine the seven filling ingredients; stir until smooth. Divide the dough into 25 portions. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a 5-in. circle. Spoon 2 tablespoons of filling on half of each circle. Moisten edges with water; fold dough over filling and press edges with a fork to seal. Prick tops with a fork 4-5 times.

In an electric skillet, heat 1/2 in. of oil to 375 degrees F. Fry pies, a few at a time, for 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes 25 servings
Source: Taste of Home magazine