muffin tin pies

this project has been lurking on my to-do for the past couple of weeks after i saw some girls in dolores park selling little mini pies. of course instead of buying pie from them i stole their idea and made my own. it's a little bit time consuming with the rolling and cutting and assembling, but kris was out of town last weekend so i had plenty of time to dedicate to the task. plus i wanted to have little pies to feed him when he came home from his bachelor party to show him what a good wife i can be.

i went to the farmer's market on sunday to buy fruit for the innards and everything looked so good i couldn't decide on just one filling. so i made two - strawberry rhubarb and peach nectarine with ginger. i don't think i can pick a favorite, they are both yummy! the strawberry has a little tartness from the rhubarb and the orange compliments both flavors nicely. i didn't add any sugar to the peach and nectarine filling because my peaches were already very ripe and sweet. the ginger adds a delicious little hint of spice.

to make these, start off with your favorite trusted pie crust recipe. i used the basic pastry crust from veganomicon. the recipe is for a single (12 inch i think) pie crust and i made three of them and had dough for 18 little pies.

strawberry rhubarb pie filling
(makes filling for 9 mini pies)
ingredients:
2 stalks of rhubarb, diced
1 heaping cup strawberries, sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
zest of 1/2 orange and a squeeze of juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch

gingery peach and nectarine
(makes filling for 9 mini pies)
ingredients:
2 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 ripe nectarine, peeled and cut into small chunks
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, diced


once you have made your pie dough, make the fillings by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside for a few minutes.

preheat the oven to 400 and lightly grease your muffin tin.

roll out your dough and cut circles for the bottom crust and slightly smaller circles for the top crust. i used a can of pineapple and the top of a small glass...which translates to roughly 4 inches for the bottom and 3 inches for the top (who needs cookie cutters? actually, i would love some).

fit the bottom crust into the muffin tin, carefully pressing along the sides and the bottom to make sure it lays flat. fill almost to the top with filling. place the top crust over the filling and pinch along the edges to form a seal with the bottom crust. cut a little x in the top. repeat until you have filled your muffin tin.

bake for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

if you don't plan on eating all your pies at once, they freeze really well! wrap them up nice and tight and reheat at 350 for about 20 minutes.

-d