(makes 10 individual pies)
I’ve been trying to develop some boat-friendly recipes for entertaining on the water. Pie is messy to cut up and serve on a boat (we tried), so I created this recipe for individual pies that can be served to your guests with or without plates (though I recommend lots of napkins). They can be made one day in advance and refrigerated.
For the crust:
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- Zest from one small lemon or to taste (I use a Microplane to zest the lemon)
- 10 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (I use high quality grass fed butter, such as Kerrygold or butter from my local farmer’s market)
- 2-4 tablespoons of cold water
- Cooking spray
- Throw the flour, salt, sugar, and lemon zest into a food processor. You can grate the zest directly into the food processor’s bowl. Pulse to mix the dry ingredients.
- Add the butter and pulse until the butter is broken up into small pieces and the ingredients have the consistency of dry sand.
- Add the water slowly while pulsing until the dough just starts to clump together. Stop when it looks like wet sand. Don’t over-process the crust.
- Turn the crust crumbs out onto plastic wrap, form them into a flat disk, wrap it up, and refrigerate the crust for at least one hour before rolling it out. It can also be refrigerated overnight.
- Roll out the crust. Easy cleanup tip: Roll out the crust on a sheet of parchment paper to keep the countertop clean.
- Use a glass with a wide mouth to cut circles of crust that are large enough to fit into the cups of a muffin tin (see below).
Spray your muffin tins with cooking spray and fit the disks into the cups. I throw the filled muffin tins into the freezer for 10 minutes before putting them in the oven. This helps the butter in the crusts firm up again before they are baked. Poke a few holes in the bottoms before baking.
Bake the crusts at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes (until they are golden brown). They may shrink down from the sides of the muffin cups, which is fine.
For the filling:
- 3½ cups of blueberries, washed and picked over
- ½ to ¾ cup of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of Sure Jell fruit pectin (original)
- Cornstarch slurry (2 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- Puree 1½ cups of the blueberries. Easy cleanup tip: Use a Nutrabullet instead of a blender for easier cleanup and to save dishwasher space.
- Add the pureed berries, sugar, and pectin to a medium saucepan. Stir occasionally over medium heat until the mixture just begins boiling. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil until the sugar and pectin are dissolved (for about 1 minute). Then add the cornstarch slurry and stir until the slurry is fully dissolved.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and skim off any foam that formed on top of the mixture. Mix in the cinnamon.
- After the mixture cools for 5 minutes, add the remaining blueberries and stir to combine.
- Once the crusts are completely cooled, gently lift them out of the muffin tins with the blade of a sharp knife, spoon the filling into them, and you are done!