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Mini Pies: Adorable and Delicious Recipes for Your Favorite Treats
Discover the joy of crafting small, single-serving and handheld pies hot from the oven with this adorable collection of sweet and savory recipes.The flaky crust and delectable filling of traditional pie in the ultimate grab-and-go, fun-sized desserts—mini pies! Do you love the taste of pie but prefer the cute size of a cupcake? Then toss the pie pan, grab your muffin tin and open this book. With delicious recipes, easy-to-follow instructions and stunning color photographs, Mini Pies provides everything you need to bake these adorable miniature desserts with professional results.Featuring gourmet recipes for a range of fruit, custard, nut and savory delights, Mini Pies serves up hold in-your-hand, single-serving versions of all your favorites, as well as the authors’ all-new creations, •Apple• Cherry• Strawberry• Pumpkin• Key Lime• Lemon Meringue• Chocolate Cream• Bourbon Pecan• Honey and Pine Nut• Dilled Spinach Quiche• Onion, Olive and Thyme TartWhether you are baking a single batch to have around the house for your family or making a collection of different mini pies to offer guests at your next party, this book is packed with tips, tricks and techniques for creating crowd-pleasing mini pies. The authors guide you step-by-step through making the perfect crust, plus graham cracker, vegan, shortbread and gluten-free variations.“The cupcake is dead. Long live the pie!”—NPR's Weekend Edition
130 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2011
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25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 12, 2011
Mini Pies: Adorably Delicious Recipes for Your Favorite Treats by Christy Beaver and Morgan Greenseth is a collection of recipes and instructions for miniature pies.
The authors run Mini Empire Bakery in Seattle, a bakery that specializes in tiny treats, with options for restricted diets.
When my husband saw this book, he said "It's a cute little pie book about cute little pies. You love it don't you?" It is a little book! It's 6x6 inches square, with 128 pages and 29 pie fillings and 7 pie crust recipes. It's simply adorable, and this is the kind of book that would have thrilled me in my stocking when I was younger.
The pies are made in muffin tins and topped with traditional toppings like whipped cream, meringue and a vegan whipped topping recipes, or with little cutouts made from crust. Along with traditional crust recipes, there is also a vegan pie crust and a gluten free crust. The instructions for making the crusts, rolling them out and putting them in the muffin tins are clearly written and easy to follow if you're a first time pie baker. There are also instructions for jar pies which use little mason canning jars as both the pie pan and the serving dish.
Each of the fillings and crust recipes are enough for 12 pies. Fantastic mix of pie recipes. While they could have just done traditional pies and filled the cookbook, they didn't. A lot of the recipes have foodie touches and twists to make them a bit fancier. The fillings are made from scratch. No jarred pie fillings here! So there are some very traditional pies like key lime, pumpkin and chocolate cream, there is also an Apple Chai pie which adds more seasoning and flavor than just the cinnamon that's usually used. Instead of strawberry-rhubarb, there is a recipe for raspberry-rhubarb whiskey pie. Since I have raspberries and rhubarb in my garden, that will be popular this summer.
There are also a few savory options like a quiche and an onion pie. The onion pie I could easily see becoming a favorite of my son.
Some of the recipes have sweet tips on the side bars. For example with the above mentioned raspberry rhubarb pie, it suggests using liquid you pull off the filling to make a sorbet.
If you're a fan of baking and love cute, you'll probably appreciate this cookbook. Great combinations of flavors and just wonderful presentation. The photos are gorgeous. I really love the ones they cut a slice out of these tiny pies.
[I received a complimentary copy of the book to review on my craft blog- Don't Eat the Paste. My reviews are always my honest opinion]
The authors run Mini Empire Bakery in Seattle, a bakery that specializes in tiny treats, with options for restricted diets.
When my husband saw this book, he said "It's a cute little pie book about cute little pies. You love it don't you?" It is a little book! It's 6x6 inches square, with 128 pages and 29 pie fillings and 7 pie crust recipes. It's simply adorable, and this is the kind of book that would have thrilled me in my stocking when I was younger.
The pies are made in muffin tins and topped with traditional toppings like whipped cream, meringue and a vegan whipped topping recipes, or with little cutouts made from crust. Along with traditional crust recipes, there is also a vegan pie crust and a gluten free crust. The instructions for making the crusts, rolling them out and putting them in the muffin tins are clearly written and easy to follow if you're a first time pie baker. There are also instructions for jar pies which use little mason canning jars as both the pie pan and the serving dish.
Each of the fillings and crust recipes are enough for 12 pies. Fantastic mix of pie recipes. While they could have just done traditional pies and filled the cookbook, they didn't. A lot of the recipes have foodie touches and twists to make them a bit fancier. The fillings are made from scratch. No jarred pie fillings here! So there are some very traditional pies like key lime, pumpkin and chocolate cream, there is also an Apple Chai pie which adds more seasoning and flavor than just the cinnamon that's usually used. Instead of strawberry-rhubarb, there is a recipe for raspberry-rhubarb whiskey pie. Since I have raspberries and rhubarb in my garden, that will be popular this summer.
There are also a few savory options like a quiche and an onion pie. The onion pie I could easily see becoming a favorite of my son.
Some of the recipes have sweet tips on the side bars. For example with the above mentioned raspberry rhubarb pie, it suggests using liquid you pull off the filling to make a sorbet.
If you're a fan of baking and love cute, you'll probably appreciate this cookbook. Great combinations of flavors and just wonderful presentation. The photos are gorgeous. I really love the ones they cut a slice out of these tiny pies.
[I received a complimentary copy of the book to review on my craft blog- Don't Eat the Paste. My reviews are always my honest opinion]
Read
October 24, 2011Do you or someone you know love to bake? Maybe you’re always wondering which new cookbooks are worth the money or make a good gift. When it comes to finding new and interesting recipes for baked goods many home cooks search with little real results. For cookbook collectors the expectation of getting a truly new recipe is somewhere between 1:20 and sometimes as little as 1:50. This year, you can turn to “Mini Pies” with confidence; the size and number of recipes prove to have been carefully culled to make it a powerful collection.
The book includes a number of crust recipes ranging from traditional to vegan. Crust is often the trickiest part of putting together a successful pie. Ms. Beaver and Greenseth give you options that work, work well, and are well suited to the mini-dessert craze all around us. You may find that one of these will replace your go-to recipe for pie crust of any size.
You’ll also find unexpected combinations. Based on the test pies, you’ll love the new ideas. Well, we certainly did. I tried seven different recipes—all of them got great reviews. Pear is often underused in pies but “Mini Pies” includes this fruit by contrasting it with interesting combinations such as cranberry or blackberry. Both are less-traditional pairings that improve each fruit in the process. The Ginger Peach was also a winner. While I did not make any of the recommended decorative topping pieces, the little, leftover bits of crust would work perfectly. Our family tradition is to butter them, add some cinnamon sugar and eat them hot out of the oven.
One section of this book really stands out: Nut & Savory Pies. Nut pie recipes easily go wrong and en up cloying, overwhelming, or just plain annoying. Anyone who’s treasured that finally-found perfect Pecan Pie Recipe knows this to be true. Savory Pie recipes (beyond quiches) appropriate for a cook’s standard repertoire are rare. Sometimes it seems we haven’t yet come far enough from badly-done steak and kidney pie. The savory pies in this section are so good one of them is already on my next party menu. Although the Savory Sweet Potato pie nearly clenched its place on the menu, The Caramelized Onion, Olive and Thyme Tart will definitely be one of the stars for this gathering of family and guests.
I’m highlighting the pie recipe I didn’t want to stop eating. I understand it’s based on a traditional Italian approach to nut pie. Even so, I’d never seen anything like it. Get some pine nuts and make this recipe soon—it can’t be too soon!
Honey & Pine Nut Tart
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, chopped into ¼ inch pieces
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 egg
Shortbread Pie Crust (recipe on page 24)
2 ¼ cups pine nuts
¼ cup soy milk
1 Combine the sugar, honey, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the butter gradually and stir until combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
2 Whisk the cream and egg together in a blow. Slowly pour the cream mixture into the honey mixture, whisking until well combined.
3 Preheat the over to 325ºF. Generously grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or cooking spray.
4 On a thoroughly floured surface, roll out the crust to a thickness of 3/16 inch. Using a 4-inch-diamter round cutter, cut 12 crusts. Re-form and re-roll the dough as necessary, keeping plenty of flour on your work surface.
5 Using a mini cookie cutter (your choice) and leftover dough cut 12 shapes to use as pie toppers.
6 Carefully shape the crusts into the wells of the muffin tins, crimping the edges with your fingers.
7 Spoon 1 ½ tablespoons of pine nuts into each pie, then add 1 tablespoon of the honey and cream mixture. Add another tablespoon of pine nuts, then ½ tablespoon more of the honey mixture. Tope with a few pine nuts and pie topper. With a pastry brush, lightly brush the crust of each pie with soy milk, then sprinkle with sugar.
8 Bake for 35 minutes, until the crusts are browned. Allow to cool in the muffin for a few minutes, then carefully remove the pies from the pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.
9 Serve, or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
The resulting mini-pies have a more delicate flavor than a southern-style pecan pie. They are no less addictive for that being true. A cookbook of 25 recipes rarely contains so many winners. I’m pleased to say that I highly recommend this little gem with all confidence and greatly-satisfied taste buds.
The book includes a number of crust recipes ranging from traditional to vegan. Crust is often the trickiest part of putting together a successful pie. Ms. Beaver and Greenseth give you options that work, work well, and are well suited to the mini-dessert craze all around us. You may find that one of these will replace your go-to recipe for pie crust of any size.
You’ll also find unexpected combinations. Based on the test pies, you’ll love the new ideas. Well, we certainly did. I tried seven different recipes—all of them got great reviews. Pear is often underused in pies but “Mini Pies” includes this fruit by contrasting it with interesting combinations such as cranberry or blackberry. Both are less-traditional pairings that improve each fruit in the process. The Ginger Peach was also a winner. While I did not make any of the recommended decorative topping pieces, the little, leftover bits of crust would work perfectly. Our family tradition is to butter them, add some cinnamon sugar and eat them hot out of the oven.
One section of this book really stands out: Nut & Savory Pies. Nut pie recipes easily go wrong and en up cloying, overwhelming, or just plain annoying. Anyone who’s treasured that finally-found perfect Pecan Pie Recipe knows this to be true. Savory Pie recipes (beyond quiches) appropriate for a cook’s standard repertoire are rare. Sometimes it seems we haven’t yet come far enough from badly-done steak and kidney pie. The savory pies in this section are so good one of them is already on my next party menu. Although the Savory Sweet Potato pie nearly clenched its place on the menu, The Caramelized Onion, Olive and Thyme Tart will definitely be one of the stars for this gathering of family and guests.
I’m highlighting the pie recipe I didn’t want to stop eating. I understand it’s based on a traditional Italian approach to nut pie. Even so, I’d never seen anything like it. Get some pine nuts and make this recipe soon—it can’t be too soon!
Honey & Pine Nut Tart
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, chopped into ¼ inch pieces
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 egg
Shortbread Pie Crust (recipe on page 24)
2 ¼ cups pine nuts
¼ cup soy milk
1 Combine the sugar, honey, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the butter gradually and stir until combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
2 Whisk the cream and egg together in a blow. Slowly pour the cream mixture into the honey mixture, whisking until well combined.
3 Preheat the over to 325ºF. Generously grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or cooking spray.
4 On a thoroughly floured surface, roll out the crust to a thickness of 3/16 inch. Using a 4-inch-diamter round cutter, cut 12 crusts. Re-form and re-roll the dough as necessary, keeping plenty of flour on your work surface.
5 Using a mini cookie cutter (your choice) and leftover dough cut 12 shapes to use as pie toppers.
6 Carefully shape the crusts into the wells of the muffin tins, crimping the edges with your fingers.
7 Spoon 1 ½ tablespoons of pine nuts into each pie, then add 1 tablespoon of the honey and cream mixture. Add another tablespoon of pine nuts, then ½ tablespoon more of the honey mixture. Tope with a few pine nuts and pie topper. With a pastry brush, lightly brush the crust of each pie with soy milk, then sprinkle with sugar.
8 Bake for 35 minutes, until the crusts are browned. Allow to cool in the muffin for a few minutes, then carefully remove the pies from the pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.
9 Serve, or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
The resulting mini-pies have a more delicate flavor than a southern-style pecan pie. They are no less addictive for that being true. A cookbook of 25 recipes rarely contains so many winners. I’m pleased to say that I highly recommend this little gem with all confidence and greatly-satisfied taste buds.
April 6, 2012
This was a fun little book that was recommended to me through Baking Bites.
I have to admit that I am not a huge pie fan; either the fillings are too cloying or the crust is very lackluster. I've enjoyed galettes and pastries and tarts but not very many pies.
The thing that drew me to this book is that you don't need special bakeware. You can bake them right in a muffin pan. (Of course, they do recommend getting a 4" tart pan to do the crust cutting, but it's not strictly necessary.) The single-serving size also appealed to me, and they're just so gosh-darn cute at that size! =)
After reading through the general instructions, I picked out the chocolate pie as my first recipe. The crust came together pretty easily, although cubing the shortening and butter as small as the book recommends is pretty fussy. It was so easy to work with, rolling out smoothly without tears or sticking. The chocolate filling was similar to other custards I've made. I was not able to find the brand of evaporated milk they called for. I also halved the batch of meringue for topping so I would have just enough for the 12 mini pies.
What didn't work so well was the shaping of the crusts. I don't feel like they explained at all how you need to push the fluted circles into each muffin cup so that you don't lose the pretty edge. Mine ended up not looking great, but it was my first time doing it. The skill probably comes with practice, but I wish they had spent a little more time describing how to do it neatly. Secondly, the filling of the pies never firmed up, even after overnight refrigeration. I think there's probably more to it than just the different brand of evaporated milk. Finally, I was not a fan of how their Perfect Pie Crust tasted.
I think this book is great for ideas and the general technique, but in the future I will probably use recipes from a source I trust and assemble them following this book's methods.
I have to admit that I am not a huge pie fan; either the fillings are too cloying or the crust is very lackluster. I've enjoyed galettes and pastries and tarts but not very many pies.
The thing that drew me to this book is that you don't need special bakeware. You can bake them right in a muffin pan. (Of course, they do recommend getting a 4" tart pan to do the crust cutting, but it's not strictly necessary.) The single-serving size also appealed to me, and they're just so gosh-darn cute at that size! =)
After reading through the general instructions, I picked out the chocolate pie as my first recipe. The crust came together pretty easily, although cubing the shortening and butter as small as the book recommends is pretty fussy. It was so easy to work with, rolling out smoothly without tears or sticking. The chocolate filling was similar to other custards I've made. I was not able to find the brand of evaporated milk they called for. I also halved the batch of meringue for topping so I would have just enough for the 12 mini pies.
What didn't work so well was the shaping of the crusts. I don't feel like they explained at all how you need to push the fluted circles into each muffin cup so that you don't lose the pretty edge. Mine ended up not looking great, but it was my first time doing it. The skill probably comes with practice, but I wish they had spent a little more time describing how to do it neatly. Secondly, the filling of the pies never firmed up, even after overnight refrigeration. I think there's probably more to it than just the different brand of evaporated milk. Finally, I was not a fan of how their Perfect Pie Crust tasted.
I think this book is great for ideas and the general technique, but in the future I will probably use recipes from a source I trust and assemble them following this book's methods.
November 17, 2017
This is a nice little book that provides recipes to make small pies. You can either use a mini pie maker or make the pies in muffin tins. Both sweet and savory pies are covered in this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews