My first experience with Mexican Street Corn was in Guadalajara. Love at First Bite. The corn was ever so slightly charred with queso fresco, chili powder, and lime mayo. The combination is absolutely heavenly, especially if you love corn, like I do. As luck would have it, I came across a food cart in downtown Portland, Oregon, serving the exact same street corn! Woot Woot; I couldn’t resist creating Mexican Street Corn Hand Pies.
For the crust, I highly recommend using my Ultimate Corn Masa Crust, which also has corn in it. The crust is tender with bits of pureed corn, but it’s not heavy. When I developed this recipe a few years ago I was experimenting with tamale dough, had a corn-epiphany, and bam! Ultimate Corn Masa Crust was born.
For ease and peace of mind, I would suggest making the corn masa dough, cover with plastic wrap, and setting it aside until filling is ready.
Sauté the corn and minced onions in oil/butter mixture over medium high heat until bits start to char. Remove the skillet from heat and set aside to cool a bit.
I used frozen corn, but you can use fresh; you will need to cut off the kernels of about 5 to 6 ears. There are always bags of frozen corn in my freezer as l seem to have an affinity for corn. Do what works for you, no judgment.
Next is the lime/mayo/sour cream filling. Seriously pie peeps, if you live in an area that has Tillamook Sour Cream, please go for it. It’s superior, that’s all.
Now, as street corn is eaten with a fork, the corn placed in the hand pies need a binder to hold it together. Otherwise, corn would crumble away with every bite. No one wants that. So, a couple of eggs and a little panko are added. Add the cooled corn and cotija and/or queso fresco cheeses to the lime/mayo/sour cream mixture.
Yes, I love Cacique cheeses, but don’t ask me to pronounce it! (See picture below, you only need about 5 ounces, which is half of one package.) FYI: Cotija is tangier than queso fresco.
The fun begins with assembling the hand pies, I personally fully enjoyed every minute.
Use a double batch of Ultimate Corn Masa Crust (recipe link has extra small, single 10-inch pie & double batch listed). Divide the dough into 16 balls of dough, a little larger than golf ball size. With extra masa, with a rolling pin, roll each dough ball to about 5-1/4 in diameter. Place about 1/3 cup of corn mixture in each dough round and fold up rough edges about 1/2-inch.
Place each hand pie on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush each with egg wash before baking. Corn masa crust does not darken as other crusts, so the egg wash helps with the color.
I love the rough edges, as no hand pie will look exactly the same; but together they create a stunning earthy display of deliciousness.
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 F and let cool a bit before serving. Serve with extra cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro, and lime.
Enjoy all you pie bakers out there!
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Mexican Street Corn Hand Pies
Mexican Street Corn Hand Pies: Pan roasted corn, seasonings, queso fresco and crema lime sauce. A tasty twist on an authentic Mexican dish.
16
Hand Pies45
minutes25
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
1 tablespoon 1 butter
2 tablespoons 2 vegetable oil
1/2 cup 1/2 sweet onion, finely diced
Dash of Dash garlic powder
5-1/2 cups 5-1/2 frozen sweet corn
3/4 cup 3/4 crema or sour cream
1/2 cup 1/2 mayonnaise
1-1/2 teaspoons 1-1/2 chili powder
Dash of Dash salt
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 ground black pepper
3 tablespoons 3 lime juice (fresh is better)
1 cup 1 cotija or queso fresca cheese (about 5 ounces),crumbled, divided (filling & garnish)
2 tablespoons 2 fresh chopped cilantro (garnish)
1 egg 1 beaten, plus 2 tablespoons water (egg wash)
1 recipe 1 (large batch) Ultimate Corn Masa Pie Dough* https://portlandiapielady.com/ultimate-corn-masa-crust/
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, add butter & vegetable oil with corn and onions. Pan roast for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The corn should have a little bit of char to it. Remove from heat and let cool while preparing filling and dough.
- In a large bowl, crema (or sour cream), mayo, chili powder, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup queso fresco (or cotija) cheese, and lime juice. Stir together until combined. Stir in cooled pan roasted corn.
- Divide the large batch of Ultimate Corn Masa Crust dough into 16 dough balls. Roll each out to roughly 5 to 5-1/4 inches.
- Spoon 1/3 cup of street corn filling into the middle of each crust. Spread just slightly to within 1/2inch of edge. Fold up edges, if cracks occur, just squish them together, no biggie.
- Place hand pies on parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Brush with egg wash and bake 20 to 25 minutes at 375 F.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro, extra queso fresco, Tajin, or sriracha, sour cream, and lime wedge.
