Mini Pies

Fall is in the air!! I am so excited that there is a crispness outside and lighting the oven is no longer sinful! A couple of weekends ago I worked on  mini-pies for some close friends of ours that just had a baby. In the midst of preparing these, mom and I decided we might use these for my brother's upcoming spring nuptials! We're preparing the dessert for the wedding festivities and the bride-to-be was hoping to have some sort of apple or cherry slices/turnovers. But after making these little mini pies-I'm convinced this could easily be a yummy, pretty, wedding treat! (Hence the hearts on top of the last batch.) You can make this recipe as easy or as difficult as you'd like...just decide how much time you have and  how much effort you want to expend!

MINI PIES WITH CHERRY-BERRY FILLING

What you need for the mini pies:
1 box refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts (now if you want to go all homemade, you can reference my pie crust recipe here...if you're in a hurry, these pre-made ones are a snap!)
1 recipe of cherry-berry filling (recipe to follow) OR
1 21oz can of ready made pie filling

What you need for the cherry-berry filling:
1.5 cup frozen cherry-berry fruit mix 
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the filling: 
1. Mix all ingredients in a pan on top of the stove. Heat on medium heat until the mixture becomes warm-about 5 minutes. (If berries are whole-as mine were-remove from the pan and slice into bit size pieces and return back to the pan.
2.Continue cooking until mixture is hot and bubbling, about 5-7 more minutes. 

To make the mini pies:
1. Heat your oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Remove pie crusts from packaging and unroll on a clean work surface. If you made yours, roll the pie dough out about 1/3 of an inch thick.

3. Using a 3 1/2 or 4 inch round cutter (in my case, I used the top of a drinking glass) cut out 6-7 rounds from one pie crust. Save the scraps if you want to make a topping decoration for later.

4. Fit the rounds into an ungreased muffin tin. (I experimented here and cut parchment paper rounds for the bottom of some of the tins as I was afraid the pie crusts would stick. Upon removal though, this was not necessary for the Pillsbury crusts.) You can play with the edges of the crusts in the cups any way you like.
 5. Fill each cup with about 2 tablespoons of your choice of filling.

6. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 15-17 minutes until the crusts are golden and your filling is bubbling.

*If you want to top the cups with a decoration, just use your scrap pie dough. I cut free-hand hearts to place on top before popping them in the oven.

ENJOY!! 

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