Mini Pies

I finally found the right jars and had some sent to my local hardware store so today I'm making mini pies! I found the tutorial here. As part of a two-person household I think its a great idea. Chris isn't a big desert eater and I really shouldn't eat an entire full-sized pie myself, so whenever I make pies we end up eating a few pieces and then the rest goes bad in the fridge. Or I eat the whole thing because I don't want to waste the food, and then feel guilty for eating so much pie! That got me thinking of other people who don't really need full sized pies. Like my grandparents or my aunt who lives alone lives without any other humans. And since they are frozen and just need to be popped into the oven they are perfect for my grandparents who don't do much cooking anymore. So guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

I used this crust recipe (so simple!) for all the pies. The blueberry pies are from this recipe using frozen blueberries.

Chocolate Chess Pie
from my great aunt Kitty, as dictated to Will Bullins
3/4 stick butter, melted
4 Tblsp cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar (a little bit more)
2 "egges"
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.


Apple Pie
from my mother in law, Dianne Lough
I used an assortment of types of apples for the apple pie- pretty much one of everything they had at the store. Dianne recommends 3 granny smith and 4 golden delicious cut up apples and put into bowl with fresh squeezed orange juice (to prevent browning) in separate bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, 4T flour, 1t cinnamon, 2 dashed nutmeg, dash salt, 1 tsp cold butter. Mix with apples until coated and microwave for 4min pour apple mix into crust, add top crust and brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar

Instead of the traditional top crust for the apple pie, I used a crumble made with 1 part butter: 1 part flour: 3 parts brown sugar and a handful of pecan bits