How To Make Mini Blueberry Pies | Simple & Easy
With pops of sweet blueberries swirling in an ice cream soaked crust, this simple and easy mini blueberry pie recipe couldn't be any any easier!
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 249kcal
Ingredients
- 2 puff pastry crusts 10x10 inch
- 1 egg beaten, for glazing
Filling:
- 2 cups fresh blueberries washed and dried
- ¼ cup sugar granulated (147g)
- 2 teaspoon corn starch (10g)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (4g)
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice (10 ml)
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon (1g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 1 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter cut into small ½ inch dices (14 g)
Optional - for serving
- powdered sugar for dusting
- ice cream
Instructions
Preheat the oven
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Place the oven rack in the middle.
Mix the filling
- Put the sugar, corn starch, lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the frozen or fresh blueberries and mix. Set it aside.
Assemble the pies
- (1) Butter four, 4-inch tart or pie tins. You can also use muffin tins, or a muffin pan if you do not have a tart pan.(2) Cut one 10x10 inch pie crust into four equal pieces. Press each square into the pie tin including the bottom and sides. Cut or press off any excess on the rims. Put them into the refrigerator to chill.(3) Take out the second pie crust. Slice 8-10 half inch strips for the lattice top. Put them into the refrigerator to chill.(4) Take out the pie shells from the refrigerator and place them on a baking sheet. Spoon the blueberry mixture into the pie shell. Dot the mini pies with the cold butter.(5) Take the pastry strips out of the refrigerator. Make a lattice over each pie by placing two strips across each pie. Take another two pieces and place them at 90°. Weave the strips in and out creating a lattice. Cut the excess from the sides and press the ends to the edges. Omit this step if you decide to make tarts.(5) Using a pastry brush, brush the lattice top with egg wash. Sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar. At this point, the mini pies can be placed in the freezer until ready to bake.
Bake the pies
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Place the blueberry mini pies in the pan. Bake the pies in the middle rack of the oven for about 40 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the flaky pie crust is golden brown. Allow to rest in the oven with the door closed for about five minutes before cooling on a rack. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Video
Notes
- Keep the pastry chilled - the pie crust needs to be kept in the fridge whenever it is not being used because the hard lumps of butter is the secret to a flaky pie crust. Once in the oven, the butter melts in the dough creating air pockets that result in those delicious crispy layers. Keep the assembled pie in the freezer until ready to bake.
- Add extra sugar if the blueberries are too tart - the sweetness of fresh fruit can vary based on multiple factors such as season, weather, and degree of ripeness. If the blueberries are too tart, add up to one teaspoon or so of sugar to balance it out. Too much sugar will create clumpy sugar "crusts" in the pie.
- Add the blueberries after mixing the other ingredients - in one of my test cases, I had tiny crusts of cornflower in my pie. Blueberries don't release as much liquid as other fruits, like apples. As a result, you cannot assume that everything will melt together in the oven.
- The top crust needs to have a large opening to let steam escape - I prefer a lattice design on the top of these pies because it's easy, bakes very well and solves the steam issue.
- Let the pie cool for a few minutes in the oven to ensure an even top and bottom crust bake - After about 20 minutes in the oven, the top crust should be golden brown indicating that the pie is done. I have found that turning off the oven and keeping the door closed for about 5 minutes helps ensure that the bottom crust has that perfect crisp.
- It's easier to remove the pies from the tart tin soon after the bake - Remove the tart tins while the pies are still hot as the excess sweet blueberry syrup will harden after cooling and make it difficult to remove the tin.
- Soak the tins and baking sheet in hot water for easy clean up - To remove any blueberry stains or stuck on crust, simply soak the tins in a little hot water.
- You can use the whole egg or just the egg yolk for the egg wash - I tend to use the whole egg because I like the pies to have a light, golden brown color. If you want a more opaque, dark gold color use only the egg yolk for the egg wash.
- Use aluminum foil if the lattice browns too fast. If it looks like the edges of the pie or the top of the pie is browning too fast, cover the mini pies with a piece of aluminum foil.
- Switch the position of the pies if one sides browns faster than the other. Also, if your oven heats unevenly, you might need to reverse the position of the pies in the oven to allow for even cooking.