First of all, Happy Labor Day, friends! I hope you’re enjoying your day off, while also remembering why we celebrate Labor Day in the first place. I’m currently roaming around my hometown, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s talk about mini pies.

I have made these mini pies multiple times, but these photos are actually from Memorial Day weekend {yeahhh, back in May}, but I am sharing them now because we’re embarking upon Labor Day. I think they’re just perfect for any kind of “patriotic” holiday. But really, they’re perfect for pretty much any occasion. I just decided to get all ‘MERICA with them here.

Pie is awesome. And mini pies are slightly more awesome. Why? Because anything miniature is just so darn cute! They’re also quite easy to make: you just roll out your chilled dough, toss a circle of dough in a cupcake tin, add your filling, and then add your top crust. Once you’ve assembled several, throw ’em in the oven to bake! Super cute, super impressive, and much easier than they look [also a heck of a lot less fussy than a whole pie, but you didn’t hear that from me].

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// Mini Mixed Berry Pies.

Yield: I doubled the crust recipe (below) to get about six mini pies that will fit in cupcake tins. You may also use the recipe below as is, and make two mini mason jar lid pies [just reduce the amount of filling].

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1/4 tsp. coarse salt
• 3 TBSP. unsalted butter, cold
• 1/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 TBSP. ice-cold water

For the filling:

Instructions:
For the crust:

1. In a small bowl, stir together the flour and salt with a fork. Cube the butter into 12 chunks, and add half of them to the flour mixture.
2. Stir gently, and then add the remaining butter chunks. Next, using your thumb and index finger [make the “snapping” motion] in order to incorporate the butter chunks into the flour mixture.
3. Work the butter into the flour for quite a while, making sure it’s evenly incorporated and the dough almost comes together in clumps when you squeeze it in your hands. [The warmth of your hands is bringing the dough together, so if it’s still flour-y, keep working it.]
4. Finally, add the vinegar and 2 TBSP. of the ice-cold water. Stir with a fork and the dough will easily come together into a mass. You may need a bit more water, depending on the humidity in your area on a given day.
5. Scoop the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape it into a disk and store it wrapped in the fridge for 30 minutes, while you make the filling.

For the filling:

To assemble the pies:.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and lightly grease 6 muffin cups in your muffin tin.
2. Once dough is ready, take it out of the fridge and let it warm up for a few minutes.
3. Roll out one half on the counter top and cut out circles with the largest biscuit cutter you have (or use a large glass; the circle just needs to be larger than the muffin cup).
4. Place the circles in the muffin cups and crimp down the sides.
5. Place the cooled filling into the cups, almost until full.
6. Take the other half of the dough and roll it out. Using a ravioli cutter, cut thin strips of dough to create a lattice pattern on top of the mini pies.
7. Once you’re done assembling, beat an egg for the egg wash. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top for extra crunch, if desired.
8. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until they’re nice and golden brown on top.
9. Allow the pies to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes before trying to remove from pan.

// Recipe Inspiration + Resources:
+ Mixed berry filling recipe + muffin tin baking method inspired from Table for Two Blog.
+ Pie crust recipe from Dessert for Two.