Hand pies may be somewhat foreign to Montgomery County palates more used to dessert-style pies mass manufactured by the likes of TastyKake or Hostess. Instead, these versions are savory, meat-based, cute and fluffy entrée-style creations. And True Blue Bakery in Royersford excels at them, as reported by Timothy Walton at 6abc.

Hand pies go back to Ye Olde England, where carry-about meals of meat, vegetables, and potatoes were nested under a crust and baked for miners to eat while working underground.

From there, they spread worldwide, including to Australia, where natives Roy Cooper and his fiancé Fiona McPhee are from.

When they came to Royersford in 2017, they became somewhat homesick for hand pies.

So Cooper, a second-generation baker, started making and selling them here. McPhee joined the process, handling the fillings while her intended tended to the crusts.

The bakery sells traditional varieties: ground beef and onion, lamb-filled, a vegetarian version with spinach and feta — even a breakfast-style serving whose flavor profile mimics biscuits and gravy from the U.S. south.

Plans are to expand the bakery into a café.

More on True Blue Bakery and its hand pies is at 6abc.

Editor’s Note: This MONTCO Today post was originally published Aug. 20, 2022; it has been verified for accuracy.

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It is possible to make British-style hand pies from scratch, but when a Royersford pro is willing to do the work for you, well…