Not Martha

to make: tiny pies

For a while I had been thinking about small food — as in “Look at me, I am a GIANT!” small food. My plans included little poussin, Brussels sprouts, little dinner rolls, and itty bitty pies. I have a small muffin pan with shallow, curved shapes (maybe for dinner rolls?) that I thought would be good for the shape (the standard 5″ small pie tin was considered but voted too large). I also tried some mini pies in regular muffin tins.

I used the standard refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts, and cut out round shapes using a biscuit cutter and some cups from around the kitchen. I winged some apple and blueberry pie filling based on some basic recipes — I didn’t measure anything just threw in a little bit of sugar, a tiny bit of lemon zest, and a dash of cinnamon (when I decide to wing it things rarely work out, but this time they did!). I cut the apple into mini slices. I couldn’t find any sour cherries at the store (I don’t really know why I was so fixated on finding sour cherries) so I used a canned pie filling.

I even tried a few miniature lattice tops using the technique described at the bottom of this page and sort of illustrated and described here.

The pies were baked in a 375 degree oven for ten minutes and then checked. If the tops were getting very brown I covered them lightly with foil (like a crust shield but for the whole pie) and baked for 3 to 5 minutes more until bubbly. I was worried that the apple wouldn’t be cooked enough but it came out fine on both of my tests.

I suspect some sparkly sanding sugar thrown on top, or perhaps this water and sugar techinique would be great for these.

The tiny pies were surprisingly yummy, very easy, and provided a good crust-to-filling ratio. If you have a few people over everybody can choose their favorite types of pie. Also, if you leave out the ice cream they are a food you can eat while walking. I wonder if they would freeze well? I think they would be really great at a bake sale.

I am, of course, not the first person to make tiny pies. Digs Magazine has a recipe for Mini Pumpkin Pies, and you can find lots of mini pecan pies and mince pies if you google around a bit.

More tiny pies! Go see pictures of a tiny food hors d’oevures spread by Callahan Catering in the Summer 2003 Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, everything is enchanting. There are recipes for all of these hors d’oevures including the 2″ strawberry rhubarb lattice pies on the Martha Stewart web site here.

Sur La Table has 2″ straight sided tartlet forms that looks like really tiny pie tins.

The book Sweet Miniatures looks like it contains so many good ideas for tiny desserts.

There is a recipe for mini 2″ or 3″ jam tarts on the MS web site as well.

Another book – 125 Lucious Little Bites.

And the very cute gingerbread house poppers.

122 Comments

122 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Aw, HELL Yeah! | Kat Bakes // May 28, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    […] Tiny pies! I knew it could be done! The cupcake’s reign of tyranny has officially ended. I am SO making these. […]

  • 2 Rachel // Jun 2, 2012 at 4:12 am

    I’m in love!! Planning on trying these, and like the sound of the water and sugar idea. However the link you provided took me to something else :( I googled, but couldn’t find it. Can you point me to somewhere else that might have the technique? I like the sound of it!

  • 3 Sour Cherry Hand Pies | Kat Bakes // Jun 12, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    […] would be a misnomer, because it raises the expectation for a whole pie in miniature, something like this. Which is not to say that you will never see a true miniature pie on Kat Bakes–I do have […]

  • 4 A Very Pigtails Thanksgiving // Jun 23, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    […] blackberry, and cherry.  With the help of some Pillsbury piecrusts, canned pie filling and Not Martha’s blog on mini pies, they came out […]

  • 5 Recently Made: Mini Pies | lifeofcarbon // Jul 3, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    […] slice of pie. DO NOT TRY TO FIGHT MY LOGIC! Thankfully I remembered I had a post bookmarked from not martha on making said miniature desserts and we didn’t have to pay Starbucks one more cent than we […]

  • 6 Picnic-ready mini pies! « Sarah has a chinchilla named Rufus. // Jul 22, 2012 at 9:25 am

    […] sure I’ll cut that down with practice. After baking at 375 for 10-15 minutes (I used this blog for guidance, and just checked starting at 10 minutes), I let them cool and slowly pulled them out […]

  • 7 Tiffany // Jul 26, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    I was thinking of trying this except with a graham cracker crust and frozen pies, like key lime. How hard is it to get the pie out of the muffin tin? Would you suggest using the muffin wrappers?

  • 8 megan // Jul 26, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    Tiffany – With a graham cracker crust I would definitely use cupcake papers since the crust is so likely to crumble. Perhaps even look for those type that come with an aluminum outer liner? Best of luck!

  • 9 Zucchini fries? Uh, kinda. | tales of a healthy foodie // Jul 30, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    […] up: Mini pies. I may or may not be completely serious, I’ve been thinking about these all day today. Like this:LikeBe the first to like […]

  • 10 Melissa // Aug 30, 2012 at 11:25 am

    Love this idea. I am doing a demonstration for my speech class and am wanting to do how to make a pie. To serve each fellow student with a slice of a regular sized pie would be time consuming and messy, so making mini pies in advance to hand out for sampling would be perfect. Could you give insight on how you removed the mini pies without damaging them and making them crumble/break? It would be so appreciate!! Thanks!

  • 11 megan // Aug 30, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    Hi Melissa – I put a cookie sheet or cutting board on top and carefully turned it over. Does that help?

  • 12 Hira // Oct 5, 2012 at 11:16 am

    Heyy! This a great idea!! Can’t wait to try out! But i was wondering how do you take those tiny pies out of the pan without making a mess!! Please help!!!

  • 13 megan // Oct 5, 2012 at 11:36 am

    Hira – Make sure they are cool before you take them out, and ease them out with a small spatula if you have one!

  • 14 Mini Cupcakes | Cupcake Maker | Thoughtfully Simple // Oct 16, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    […] what about these mini pies from Not Martha? The possibilities are endless! What you YOU make […]

  • 15 Halloween Carving Alternatives | the UNDERenlightened // Oct 17, 2012 at 2:34 am

    […] Hollow them out, use the innards to make an adorable tiny pie (because if you don’t love tiny pies, who are you?), and carve a […]

  • 16 Titania // Nov 27, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    Those are so cute. If my hands cooperate, I can make them for my soda stream party.

  • 17 Lauri Luck // Mar 1, 2013 at 10:16 am

    Thank you Megan!
    My son Jonah & I are going to be amateur contestants in the 2013 Guys Can Cook Too! cook off up in Sebastopol, CA in May. Our entry is Lemon Chess Pie and we need to make a minimum of 500 teeny-tiny pies!!!! My first pan search landed me in your blog with the perfect solution. Thanks a million!
    Lauri Luck

  • 18 Melissa @ DaisyMaeBelle // May 10, 2013 at 8:04 am

    This is just what I was looking for! I was thinking of making tiny fudge pies and was wondering if the Pillsbury dough would work in muffin tins! Thanks for testing it out and sharing! Life to the full! Melissa

  • 19 Crow // Sep 30, 2013 at 1:07 am

    Those pies are just adorable ^^
    But… I’m from Poland and I never saw pie dough here and when i tried the US recipes the dough didn’t taste too well :c it’s just flour, butter and sugar.

  • 20 Halloween Carving Alternatives | UE // Nov 22, 2013 at 6:18 pm

    […] Hollow them out, use the innards to make an adorable tiny pie (because if you don’t love tiny pies, who are you?), and carve a […]

  • 21 Simple Ideas for Valentine’s Day | Landscape Photography, Nature and Beach Photographs by Jennifer Squires // Jan 31, 2014 at 7:00 am

    […] as gifts and more often than not it’s homemade. In the past I’ve been known to make Tiny Pies, Blueberry Cranberry Pie, and Dark Chocolate Almond Butter […]

  • 22 A Midwestern Belle // Sep 1, 2014 at 1:04 pm

    […] so it was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at the mini pies I’ve had my eye on over at Not Martha. These little cuties were so fun to make and smelled just like pop tarts when they came out of the […]

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