April 28: Handheld Blueberry Pies

Handheld Blueberry Pies

Ingredients:
1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (14.1 oz) package refrigerated unroll-and-bake piecrust

1. In a medium-size saucepan, mix together the blueberries, sugar, flour, water, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Let cool completely or cover and keep chilled until you are ready to use it.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 and place a rack in the center. Spray 36 mini muffin cups with flour-added baking spray.
3. Unroll one round of piecrust dough to make a 12 inch circle. Using a 2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles and press them as neatly as you can into the prepared muffin cups.
4. Put a small spoonful of blueberry mixture in the center of each cup. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the crusts are browned. Let cool completely in the pans, then unmold by loosening with the tip of a knife. Repeat with the remaining piecrust and filling.

Blueberries, sugar, flour, water and cinnamon

After some cooking...

Rolled out crust...I didn't measure if it was 12"

I ended up with 32 after these and then rerolling the dough

They fit nicely in the mini muffin pan

This first batch I probably used too much filling because...

They came out a little messy looking

From first batch

From second batch less filling

Thoughts: This is a messy cookie. It takes about 9-10 oz of fresh blueberries. I used bottled lemon juice because squeezing fresh lemons is annoying. I don't know where my cookie cutters are so I used the bottom of a shot glass that measures about 1 1/2 inches wide. I put too much filling in the first batch of 24 so they came out heavy and hard to get out of the baking pan. A couple broke apart and had to be thrown out. Patrick liked it...I thought it was a little sour. I probably would use more sugar next time but it does taste like a slice of blueberry pie!