The Best Chicken Pot Pies

In a food processor, pulse flour, salt and baking powder until well blended.

Add cream cheese and pulse until pea-sized pieces form.

Add butter cubes and pulse just until pea-sized pieces form.

Add the vinegar and 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until wet clumps form.

Feel the dough and if it is too crumbly add another 1 tablespoon or more of water.

Pour mixture into a bowl and gather into a ball of dough.

Wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a 1 inch thick disk.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

In a large soup pot, add the olive oil and heat to medium-high. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic.

Sauté until the vegetables have softened (approximately 5 minutes). Stir often.

Add the chicken pieces into the vegetables and cover with the chicken broth.

Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer, partially covering the pot, for approximately 45 minutes or until the chicken is done and no longer pink inside.

Remove from the heat and place the chicken into a large bowl.

Using a slotted spoon, take the vegetables out and place them in a separate bowl. Allow the stock to cool. You should have approximately 4 ½ cups.

When cool enough, tear the chicken into small pieces, removing any bones or skin.

Add the vegetables into the chicken and set aside.

In a small bowl, toss the butternut squash with approximately 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Place onto a sheet pan and roast in a 425° Fahrenheit oven for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the squash is tender. Allow to cool.

Blanche the green beans in a small saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes. Shock them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. When cool, drain the water.

Add both the butternut squash and green beans along with the thawed peas into the chicken and vegetable mixture.

In a large saucepan, heat the butter until melted and bubbly over medium-high heat. Whisk in 4 tablespoons of the flour and cook for approximately 30 seconds to remove any starchy taste. Whisk in the onion and garlic powders along with the salt.

Over high heat, slowly whisk in the reserved chicken stock and whisk constantly until a nice, slightly thickened sauce forms. If the sauce is too thin, combine 2-3 tablespoons of extra flour into enough cold water to form a slurry, the consistency of heavy cream. Gradually whisk the slurry into the sauce and bring the sauce to a boil, whisking constantly. The sauce should become thicker. The sauce should not be too thick.

Take the sauce off the heat and set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit.

Place the crockpots or ramekins on large sheet pans depending on the size of your pot pies. Be sure they have a little room between them.

On a floured surface, roll out the pie crust to a large circle that is approximately ¼ inch thick.

Using a small bowl or cookie cutter cut out circles that are slightly larger than your crockpots or ramekins. Cut out as many circles, re-rolling the dough if necessary, to create as many circles as there are pot pies.

Using a small sharp knife, create some cuts for steam holes in each pastry circle.

Fill each crockpot or ramekin with some of the chicken and vegetable filling and ladle some of the sauce over the filling.

Using a pastry brush, brush the outer rims of each crockpot or ramekin with some of the egg wash.

Place a circle of dough over each potpie. Firmly press down on the edges to adhere the pastry to the crockpots or ramekins.

Brush the tops of each potpie with egg wash.

Bake the pot pies in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the filling bubbles through the steam holes and the pastry is nice and golden brown.

Serve at once.