Puttin' A Ring On It

Mini pies in jars! 

A few weekends ago I had some of my favorite ladies over to assist me in testing out how difficult it is to make the mini pies in jars that I saw on Not Martha. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’m thinking about making these for each attendee, as their escort card (place card). Because yes, I am insane. 

Now, the idea is to make the pies and freeze them (many say you can freeze up to a year, but I think I’m more comfortable with 3 months) and then a few days before you need them you take them out of the freezer, bake them and VOILA! Individual, tiny pies! In jars! 

It actually wasn’t that difficult - making the pie dough is a breeeeeze in my new mixer and after some trial & error with the first batch, I think I’ve figured a few things out:

- It’s easy to overfill the pie with filling, you actually need about 1/2 to 2/3 of the filling you think. They definitely volcano out the top if there is too much filling (not the worst thing ever, but not as crisp & clean looking).

- The pie crust should sit INSIDE the lip of the jar; otherwise, you can’t screw the lid back on after they are baked because the crust is too high. Womp. 

- However! April came up with a good idea if the pie is too high (heh) & lid won’t go on: mini flags with names & table numbers on them. They can stick right into the top pie crust (I’d made them out of toothpicks & craft paper in varying colors for a fiesta vibe.)

- Cherry was delish, apple was good, and blueberry definitely needs some extra help in the flavor dept (I used canned pie filling because I am just not that amazing). I think the tartness of the cherry really stands up nicely to the pie crust. If I make blueberry again, I’ll need to add some oomph (cinnamon?).

- I bought both the wide mouth 8 oz jars and the smaller 4 oz jars. I thought it would be easier to use the wide mouth jars, but it was actually more difficult to work with the pie dough; plus, the 4 oz jars are adorbs & the perfect single-serving size; 8 oz of pie is a wee bit too much for a single sitting in my opinion (and I love pie!).

8 November 2010 ·