Since I bake mostly for myself I don’t often have the occasion to make pie. A whole pie is just too much for one person! Lucky for me, a score at the Goodwill of a set of super cute mini pie tins has changed all that. They measure just about 4 1/2 inches wide to make a perfect single serving. I put them to use to make these little blueberry pies.
What a delightful notion, a single serving pie! What could be better than a pie that you don’t have to share with anyone else! Everyone gets their own pie and it can be eaten out of the cute little tin while it is still nice and warm. There is none of that agony involved with waiting for the pie to cool so that it can be cut. Just don’t burn your mouth!
I realized that making mini pies is much easier that making a large one. It was simple to roll the pie crust into a smaller circle and easier to ease the pastry into little tin. To get an idea of how large the circle of pastry should be, I placed the pie tin upside down on the rolled out pastry and cut a circle about 1 1/2 inches around the edge of the tin. To decorate them I just placed a cut-out star on top, but you could cover it with another circle of dough if you wanted.
These cute little pies are packed with blueberries and have lime zest and juice to accent the flavor. Combine that with the coconut oil in the pie crust and the flavor has a hint of the exotic. This recipe uses 2 cups of blueberries; a pint is just a little more than that so if you start with a pint of berries you will have enough for the pie and a few left over to snack on. My little pie tins held about 3/4 of a cup of filling.
Ingredients
- **Crust
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut in slices
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, very cold
- about 1/4 cup cold water
- **Filling
- 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon lime zest
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1 teaspoon butter
Instructions
- To make the crust, Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium size bowl. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut the butter and the coconut oil into the flour until the pieces of fat are about the size of peas. Slowly add the water until the mixture begins to come together. press the pastry between two pieces of plastic and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a small sheet pan with baking parchment. Set two small pie tins on the sheet pan.
- To make the filling stir together the sugar and cornstarch until no lumps remain. Pour this over the blueberries, then stir in the lime zest and juice.
- Roll the pie pastry out into a 10 by 8 inch rectangle. place one of the pie tins over the pastry and cut a circle about an inch away from the edge of the pan. Press the pastry into the pie pan, and then repeat with the remaining pie pan.
- Cut a couple of stars or other shapes out of the remaining pastry.
- Place the filling into the pie shells, pressing down some if you need to.
- Cut the teaspoon of butter into small pieces and place on top of the pie filling
- Add the decoration to the top of the pie and sprinkle with some sugar.
- Bake the pies for about 35 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden. Enjoy!
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