Good things come in small packages

I have been wanting to make mini pies for a couple weeks now. I had seen a picture of them on Pintrest and thought they were just the cutest things ever - so I had to give them a try! Have you ever noticed that if you miniaturize anything it instantly becomes 100x times cuter?

Well, I finally got around to making them today since I had a relaxing Sunday all to myself and had some leftover pie crust sitting in my freezer.

The recipes are from all over the place, so this is more a tutorial on how to make mini pies. You can use which ever crust and filling recipes you prefer. Just make sure you finely dice all the fruit in your filling (if it has any) so it will fit into smaller crust. I will provide you with the recipes I used, but honestly just let your creativity run wild!

Mini Pies

Yields 10 mini pies in my case, but it all depends how much filling and dough you have.

Crust (this is for the full recipe of crust, but I just used about 1/4 of it)

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups shortening
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, shortening, sugar, and salt. Blend together with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, mix egg with water. Blend into flour mixture. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use. You can also wrap it in saran wrap, put it in a freezer bag, and save it for later.

Strawberry filling

3/4 cups strawberries, stems removed, hulled and finely chopped

2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp flour

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine.

Apple Pie filling

1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and finely diced

1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Melt the butter in the microwave (20 seconds or so) and add remaining ingredients - mix to combine.

To assemble pies:

1. Make the crust and fillings and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Roll out crust to be very thin (maybe 1/8th of an inch) and cut into approximately 3" circles and press the circles of dough into the wells of a mini muffin pan (if there is a lot of excess, cut some off). If you desire, use the scraps of the crust to create a lattice or shapes to place on top of your pies.
3. Fill each pie crust with approximately 1 tbsp of filling. If using an upper crust, place it on top of the filling and brush with milk.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

These things are too cute! And I think they make the perfect little bite of pie! The only thing I noticed about these fillings is that they overflowed while baking. So be careful with how much of the liquid part of the filling you use!

I can see these being a big hit at parties and potlucks! Imagine, your own little piece of pie! And the possibilities are endless - mini strawberry rhubarb, pecan, blueberry, heck maybe even mincemeat, pies! You can leave them open, cover them completely, or create cute little crust shapes to top them with.

I'll definitely keep these in mind for the next party or potluck I go to, I'm sure they'll wow everyone!