So, I have a confession to make. The other day I was chatting with a friend of mine, and it came up that I , baker of all things sweet, have NEVER. BAKED. A PIE. Never, not once in my life have I even attempted it. Pies.... scare me. There's no logical reason behind it, really- they just always seemed complicated, the ultimate housewife baked good.
This week, I decided to get over my irrational fear of pies and just DO IT. I cheated, a little, yes- but I made pies! And they were bite sized morsels of deliciousness! You too, can amaze yourself with this miniscule beauties. Here's my "recipe".
Ingredients:
Two refrigerated pie crusts- I used Pillsbury!
Fruit pie fillings of your choice. Mine were:
Comstock More Fruit Blueberry
Comstock More Fruit Peach
Comstock More Fruit Cherry
First, before anything else, heat your oven to 425F.
Ok, this is important step, so don't skip it! You'll regret it if you do. Cut or tear squares of aluminum foil just a bit larger than your muffin tin and press them down inside to use as a liner. Make sure you have some pieces of foil to use as "handles" so you can lift your little pies safely out of your muffin tin without any carnage.
Now, unroll your pie crusts and using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter or just a regular drinking glass like me, cut some circles that are slightly larger than your muffin cups.
Now press those gently inside your muffin tin, and make sure the dough extends all the way to the top.
Fill with your delicious fruit filling! It takes about 2 heaping spoonfuls- you want them to be full, but leave room for a dough top.
This is the fun part. You can experiment topping your cute little pies all kinds of different ways! I used some stars, hearts, lattice tops and regular tops- but be creative, try anything you'd like. :) You can even leave the tops off it you'd like more of a tartlet look!
If you'd like, you can whisk a dash of milk and an egg and brush it lightly over the tops of your crusts to give them a pretty golden, shiny finish.
Pop those babies in the oven and bake them for 20 minutes at 425F. Take them out and impatiently wait for them to cool, take a bite of one and immediately regret it as the molten hot filling burns the roof of your mouth. Wait a bit longer and try again.
Admire your baking prowess :) It's not from scratch, but so what? These are so easy, so much fun, and if you have multiple people over, everyone can have their own choice of filling! I think it would be an absolute BLAST to have a Mini Pie Party and have everyone create their own pie, and try some crazy combinations- add different spices and try mixing your fruit! What an adventure.
Enjoy!
