Mini Sour Cherry Pies

By kmad

Ingredients

• Crust (by Martha Stewart):
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/4 sticks (18 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed
• Filling (by Martha Stewart):
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
• 2 pounds fresh sour cherries, pitted (about 6 cups), or 1 3/4 pounds frozen sour cherries, partially thawed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preparation

Step 1

Crust (by Martha Stewart):
Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube until dough just holds together (no longer than 30 seconds).
Divide dough in half, and shape into disks. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days) or freeze for up to 1 month.

Filling (by Martha Stewart):
Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Using your fingertips, rub vanilla seeds into sugar mixture. Add cherries, and toss. Pour cherry mixture into prepared pie plate. Dot top with butter. Lightly brush exposed edge of crust with egg.

To create Mini Pies:
All you have to do is roll out the dough the same way as a traditional pie, but using a cookie cutter or a circle of some sort, cut out little 4" circles for both the top and bottom crusts. Line the muffin tin with the bottom crusts and fill with cherry mixture. Cut top crusts into strips to make lattice tops. At this point I put them in the fridge for a few hours or as long as over night. When you are ready to bake them brush the tops with beaten egg and sprinkle with course sugar. I baked these little guys for about 30 mins. Also I let them cool for quite a while before I removed them from their pan. If you do it while they are still warm I think they may just fall apart. Makes about 8 little pies.