Cornish Pasty Crimper!

This crimping machine for pasties was a gift to me over 30 years ago.  Prior to that I already had a set of three different sized pasty crimpers, but that’s the nature of gifts, you sometimes get something you’ve already got! However, once I’d received this crimping machine for pasties as a gift I threw out my set of three as I really didn’t have the need for three different sizes of pasty!  You do sometimes need to declutter your kitchen gadgets!

When I’m cooking a Cornish pasty for one person there’s no need – and I’ll simply cut the pastry into a rectangle and fold it over. Cooking for one person, shape is of no interest to me, so it makes most sense just to bake them as a “slice” rather than with a distinctive pasty shape.

When cooking for others though, you sometimes feel a need to create consistently sized pasties that look attractive – and that’s where this crimping machine for Cornish pasties comes into its own, or for any flavour filling…

How to Use the Crimping Machine for Pasties:

1. Open out the pasty crimper on your rolled out pastry and cut round the outside of it, so you’ve got a circle of pastry.  Repeat this until you’ve as many pasties as you need.
2. Open out the pasty crimper and lay a circle of pastry on the inside, pressing it down gently so it touches the bottom of the bulges.
3. Fill both sides with your pasty filling.
4. Egg wash, or milk wash, the edges, to aid the sealing.
5. Using the handles, close the pasty crimper and hold it tightly closed to seal the edges.
6. Open the pasty crimper and place your pasty on your baking sheet.
7. Egg wash or milk wash your pasty.  Bake as normal.

Can You Freeze Pasties?

You can use this to make a batch of pasties and freeze them.  You can freeze pasties before they’re baked, or afterwards.  To freeze them before they’re baked, lay them out on a tray and freeze individually, before bagging them up with some parchment paper/similar between them so they don’t stick together.  You can bake from frozen, or defrost them in the fridge overnight. If cooking from frozen just add 10 minutes to your cooking time.

Cheats & Ideas: 

• These make a great Christmas stocking filler gift for students or for people who want to spend less on food and make more use of their leftovers.
• Anything can be baked in a pasty – using a pasty crimper can speed up the crimping process if you’re making more than one pasty at a time.
• Make savoury and sweet pasties.
• Use the pasty crimper to cut out your circles of pastry from a ready-rolled pastry sheet and freeze just the discs, separated by parchment paper.  You can then defrost just 1-2 pasty pastry discs at a time and use the crimper to fill them.

Where to Buy:

Many cookshops will have pasty crimpers for sale, but they can be tricky to track down or, if you’re like me, you only ever remember when you’re at home, not when you’re out shopping!

You can pick them up on ebay and Amazon UK too.