The Mini Pie Revolution - Blackberry and Apple Pies

Ann from Redacted Recipes and Karyn from Hot Potato are rebelling against the ubiquity of cupcakes and hosting a Mini Pie Revolution. As the name of the event suggests, Ann and Karyn require participants to bake mini pies of any variety, provided that they meet the size criteria ie baked in mini muffin or muffin size tins, and have a crust or other topping (ie they are pies!!).



I have decided to make mini blackberry and apple pies, based on Bill Granger's recipe for apple and cherry tarts in the Australian Womens Weekly, December 2006 edition. You can just see the fruit peeking through the crust of one of the pies in the photograph. These pies are luscious and tasty because they are packed with fruit. They are also quite simple to make in muffin tins.

The recipe is as follows:

300g plain flour
80g sifted icing sugar
pinch of salt
160g chilled, cubed butter
1/4 cup iced water
150g blackberries
2 apples, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 tablespoon cornflour
55g sugar
1 lightly beaten egg white

Place flour, icing sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the dough looks like breadcrumbs. Stream in ice water and process until the dough forms a ball. Place in cling wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease 8 cups of a 12 hole muffin tin and line with strips of baking paper protuding from the sides (to act as handles to lift out the baked pies).

Roll out the chilled pastry to a 3mm thickness. Cut out 8 pastry rounds and line the bottom of the muffin tins. Cut another 8 rounds to be lids for the pies and set aside.

In a bowl, mix the fruit, cornflour and sugar together. Spoon the fruit into the uncooked pastry cases, brush the top of each pastry case with egg white, and top each pie with a reserved pastry lid. Crimp the edges of the pies together with a fork, and brush the tops of the pies with egg white.

Bake the pies for 40 minutes or until golden.

Thanks to Ann and Karyn for hosting The Mini Pie Revolution!