Mini chicken and mushroom pies in milk pie crust (pâte à pâté)

Put all the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse briefly to mix.

Dissolve the sugar and salt in the milk, then mix in the egg without beating hard.

Add the milk mixture to the processor and run until the dough comes together.

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate one hour.

In the pan the mushrooms were cooked in, colour the diced chicken slightly in a little oil, leaving it on the bottom to take up the mushroom juices; transfer to the mushrooms.

Deglaze the pan with a little shallot and one or two tablespoons of water, cooking until the juices are caramelized and dry, then add the port and reduce until almost dry.

Return the chicken and mushrooms, add the cream, and keep on a very low simmer; add thyme leaves.

Take the dough out of the fridge five or ten minutes before rolling, flour the bench and rolling pin, and roll to three to four millimetres.

Cut large circles for the bases and smaller ones for the lids; the base must be large enough to reach the bottom of the cup and overlap the edge.

Press each base into a muffin cup all the way to the bottom, leaving a little overlap at the edge.

Fill each pie as full as possible, pressing the filling down, finishing with a little cream and sauce.

Brush the edge with egg wash as glue, put on the lid and seal the edges together; brush egg wash on top.

Cut a small chimney in each lid with a piping tip or a small cutter.

Bake at 170 degrees Celsius with the fan, or 180 without a fan-forced oven, reducing the heat if they brown too fast.

Re-rolled offcuts become elastic and shrink, so cut them into a larger circle.

Rest 15 minutes before unmoulding.