Mini Berry Pies

Happy Birthday, Steven!

Every year, my fiancee asks for a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. This year, however, the first thing out of his mouth when posed with the "which dessert" question was a berry pie. Eager to bake something new, I jumped on it. We were having a party to celebrate so instead of making one big pie that would be a mess to cut, I made mini individual pies in a muffin tin. Super cute, easy and well-received by everyone! 

Mini Berry Pie Recipe:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 lb carton strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Pie crust (cheated and used pre-made)
• milk to brush and sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine everything but the crust, milk and extra sugar in a large bowl and set aside to allow maceration (a.k.a juices to seep out of fruit).

Roll out your pie crust and cut out circles about the size of a standard glass (or use a biscuit cutter). Ideally you want to be able to press the bottom crust down in the muffin tin cup and have extra crust up over the edges to seal tops. To make 12 mini pies with tops, you'll need about 3 9-inch pie crusts. The recipe will actually make a lot more than 12 mini pies so I just used the rest to make one big pie and stored in the freezer.

Grease the muffin tin, place the dough circles down in the cups and fill with berry mixture. Cover the pies with a crust top (be sure to cut slits) or make lattices. Place in freezer until ready to bake - this will ensure that the fruit doesn't boil too quickly before the crust is finished baking.

When ready to bake, brush the tops with milk or cream, sprinkle with sugar and bake in oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.