Mini Pies

I had very big baking eyes this year for Christmas - mini pies! 3 kinds! It was a bit of a disaster. Mini-pies, while adorable, are much more work than regular sized pies, especially when you're attempting to make several different types. If I were to try again, I would stick to one kind of pie and just make a double recipe. I made 2 of the 3 in this Serious Eats article, Apple and Pear Cranberry Crumble - I ended up with LOADS more apple than I needed, and too much crumb topping for the Pear Cranberry, which led me to put (probably) too much on top of each pie and therefore made it impossible to scoop out of the muffin tin after baking. I ended up getting them up and putting them immediately into ramekins. The Pear Cran was my favorite, and think it would work great without the pie dough at all and just baked in the ramekin with the topping. Lastly, there was an error in the pie dough recipe provided, so I ended up making my favorite Martha Stewart Pate Sucree.

PIE CRUST
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water

Directions:
Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 5 seconds.

 Drizzle water evenly over mixture. Pulse until mixture just begins to hold together, about 10 seconds. (Dough should not be wet or sticky.) Press dough into 1 large disk. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour or overnight.

Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough out into an even rectangle, that’s at least 9- by 13-inches. Use a bowl or the lid of a takeout container and a pizza slicer to cut 4-inch circles from the sheet of dough. Carefully transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for 30 minutes.

If the scraps are still cold, you can re-roll them and use the pizza slicer to slice thin strips for lattice. Place those into the refrigerator to chill separately for later use (if you are making fruit lattice mini pies).

Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and use a pastry brush or a paper towel to generously grease the top and cups of a muffin tin.

Fit your circles into the muffin tin, making sure that there are no air bubbles on the bottom or sides of the pan. Chill for 30 minutes while you make your filling.

PEAR CRANBERRY CRUMBLE
Ingredients:
For Topping
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons white sugar
8 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

For Filling
1 1/2 pounds pears, thinly sliced and then cut crosswise into small pieces
3 1/2 ounces cranberries, cooked with 3 tablespoons water and 3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:
For Topping: In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients bowl. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix until completely incorporated. Set aside.

For Filling: 
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, cinnamon, and sugar.

In a sauce pan over medium heat, cook the cranberries with sugar and water. After the cranberries have burst and the sauce starts forming, add in the pears and cook, while covered, until the pears are tender (5-10 minutes). Let cool, then sprinkle in the sugar/cinnamon/salt mixture and mix until well incorporated. Add in the lemon juice and zest, and mix again, being careful not to crush the pears.

Add in the cornstarch, and mix until completely incorporated, then spoon the filling into the muffin cups lined with pie crust, pressing the filling with the back of a spoon to eliminate any air pockets. Fill the cups all the way to the top. Sprinkle crumble generously over the top.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes, then rotate and bake for 5-10 minutes, removing when they are very well browned.

After removing the mini pies from the oven, allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing them with an offset spatula and placing them on a sheet pan to cool completely.

APPLE LATTICE
Ingredients:
1 3/4 pounds apples, washed, cored and chopped into pieces the size of dimes
1.5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Upon prepping the apples, sprinkle the lemon juice over the slices to prevent browning. Mix the flour, sugar and spices together and add to the apple slices. Then add the lemon zest and butter, and mix.

Add the apple mixture to a baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for approximately 10 minutes until the apples are barely fork tender. Remove foil, mix, and cool completely.

Spoon the cooled apple filling into shells, all the way to the top. Lay four strips of lattice horizontally over each mini pie, and four strips vertically. Trim the over hang of the lattice strips, then push the ends of the lattice into the edge of the shells.

Brush all exposed crust with cream or egg wash, and sprinkle liberally with coarse sugar. At this point, if the pastry has gotten a bit warm, place directly into the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Bake pies for 20 minutes, then rotate and bake for 5-10 minutes, removing when they are very well browned.

After removing the mini pies from the oven, allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing them with an offset spatula and placing them on a sheet pan to cool completely.