Hello all! Hope you are all having a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! It’s a weekend to remember all those who served in the US Armed Forces and have passed away. Thinking of the brave men and women who have served and are serving this country makes me very grateful for the life and the freedom I have. It’s also the unofficial start of summer…it’s pretty hard not to be excited about that! Sunshine, BBQs, vacations, etc!! The month of May has been great; Josh finished law school and we celebrated his graduation with friends and family last weekend! The weather was perfect and we were so happy to spend time with our parents, Josh’s grandparents, and a family friend who all traveled many miles to celebrate with us. We were also thankful for all the wonderful warm wishes from those who were cheering him on from the Midwest. We are truly blessed to have family and friends who have supported us on this 3 year adventure in Virginia! In more exciting news, we are moving to Denver next week! We look forward to this exciting transition, but will always look back at these 3 years in Charlottesville as a great chapter in our life together.
Ok, enough with the sentimental stuff, let’s talk about PIE! I would like to declare that pie season has officially begun! Although I will make pie anytime of the year, spring and summer are best for fruit pies, especially blueberry pie. For last weekend’s celebration, I made mini blueberry pies in small canning jars. The mini pies tasted delicious and would be great for summer potlucks! They’re pretty adorable, too 🙂
Mini Blueberry Pies Print Recipe Here
Adapted From Simply Recipes, Paula Dean, and The Family Kitchen
Makes 8-12 Mini Blueberry Pies with 4 oz glass canning jars
Ingredients
Crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water
1 egg *for egg wash
1 tablespoon milk * for egg wash
Pie Filling
6 cups (about 2 1/4 pounds or 1 kilo) of fresh (or frozen) blueberries, rinsed and stems removed (if using frozen, defrost and drain first)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup (about 30g) all-purpose flour (for thickening)
1/2 cup white granulated sugar (100g)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter (unsalted), cut into small pieces
Directions
For the crust
Sift together the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add in the shortening and work it into the flour with your hands. Add in the cold butter cubes and continue to work the dough, either with your hands or a pastry cutter, until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle in the ice water until a dough forms. Form the dough into a ball, be careful not to overwork it. Divide in half and wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
For the filling
Gently mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
for making the mini pies
On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the dough discs. For the bottom crusts, cut out a 5” square, and press into the jar. For the tops, use a jar to press out a circle, and, with a sharp knife, cut it into 1/4” strips. Carefully spoon in the blueberry filling. Weave your lattice and crimp the edges. Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle the top of each little pie with 1/2 teaspoon or so of sugar.
Place prepared pies onto heated cookie sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet, turn the heat down to 350 degrees, and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes, until crust is light golden and filling is bubbling vigorously.
Allow pies to cool completely and serve, or keep covered with a lid for up to three days.
Sift together the flour, salt & sugar.
All sifted.
Add the shortening and coat it with the flour.
Add the cold butter cubes.
Use your hands or a pastry cutter to mix until crumbly.
Should end up like very coarse cornmeal.
Add about 1/4 cup ice water so the mixture comes together.
Form into 2 disks. Please pay no attention to the snowflake bowl I used…
Cover in plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Now time for the filling! Rinse the blueberries.
Add lemon zest and juice.
Add sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
Gently mix.
Spray 4 oz canning glasses with non-stick spray.
Now it’s time to form the bottom layer of the pie crusts. I separated my dough into 10 sections. You could also roll out and cut out 5″ squares.
Roll each section out.
Place a rolled out dough section on top of a jar…
gently work it into the jar…
and press the dough up so it’s covering the entire inside of the jar.
Continue until you have all of the jars filled with the bottom crust.
Fill each jar with the blueberry filling.
Roll out the top crust and punch out circles with the lid from the canning jar.
Cut each circle into 6 strips.
Place 3 strips on top of your filling.
Lift the middle strip up…
and place a strip horizontally across.
Put the middle strip down and lift the outer strips up.
Place another strip across.
Continue with the last strip by putting the outer strips down, the middle strip up, and the last strip across the bottom.
Now you have a lattice top!
Clean up the edges by crimping the edges to seal the crust.
Repeat with each pie, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle the tops with sugar.
Place on a rimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes on 400 and another 10-15 minutes on 350…
until light golden brown and bubbling vigorously!
Let them cool completely.
The perfect treat for your next summer gathering!
Enjoy!
Here are a few pictures from last week’s graduation
Me with the graduate
So proud of him!
Almost ready to say goodbye to our house in Charlottesville
Hope you all have a fun and safe weekend!!