Mini Pineapple Pies

I am teaching myself how to make pie!  Seriously, I have never been good at making pie. Sad really.   And I always felt like I was cheating every time I made one with the help of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  He’s great in a pinch but for special occasions I wanted to be able to make a pie with my own pie crust.  Damn it!

So with the help of this amazing book Art of the Pie by Kate McDermott I am learning and having lots of success!!  A couple of weeks ago I made my first Blackberry Pie.  I focused only on the filling with that pie and it was delicious.  But yes, that pie crust was compliments of that previous mentioned Dough Boy.  The pie was pretty and it was my first lattice top.  I was hooked.

Last week I made my first crust and used the recipe in Kate’s book.  I made the Traditional Art of the Pie All=Butter Dough on page 61 of my newest favorite cookbook.   Her instructions are not only clear but she shares the “whys” and “hows” of making crust.  Keeping things cold I had always heard was one of the tricks I had always heard about making pie dough.  And Kate explains the reasons behind all of her tips and tricks.  In the past I ignored that advice because I always thought cold dough was hard to roll and work with.  Hence my sad pitiful pie making attempts were the result!  No wonder I couldn’t make pie.  Now I can.  : )))))))  Pie dough needs to be cold.  Period.  But that’s not the only tip or trick shared in the beautiful book.  I am hanging on her every word and making pie!

Last night I decided to take the butter pie crust I had made earlier in the week out of the freezer ( YES!  look at me, freezing pie dough!) and make a recipe I had found online for a Pineapple Pie.  I’ve never tasted nor heard of a Pineapple Pie before and it caught my fancy!  I was so happy with the results.  The pie was not only delicious but beautiful too!  I made two mini pies. 

I followed the recipe from Allrecipes.com for Pineapple Pie and you can find it here. 

Pineapple Pie

One recipe of pie crust for a double crusted pie.

3/4 Cup of sugar

3 TBSP corn starch

1 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple with juice

1 TBSP of lemon juice

2  TBSP of milk or cream.  ( I used Half and Half that I use for my morning coffee)

1 TTBSP white sugar (I used large crystal decorative sugar.)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, pineapple with juice, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, then allow to boil 1 minute.

Cool slightly and pour mixture into pastry-lined pie pan. 

( I made mini pies so I placed my mini aluminum pie tin upside down on the crust and with a sharp knife I outlined the circle of the rim but did it about 1/2 and inch larger.  Then placed the circles of pie dough into my tins, turned the edges under around the rim and did my best at making a pretty crimp.  Lord knows I need practice at this!!) 

Cover with top crust and seal. Make a few steam vents in crust, then brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  (I love the look of a lattice topped pie and so that is what I did.  I have a fluted pie cutting wheel and that is what I used to cut the strips that I then weaved over the top of the pies. 

Place in preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes.  ( baked my mini pies for 20 minutes and then checked on them.  They only needed an additional 5 more minutes till they were a beautiful golden brown.  Watch your pies so they don’t over brown or burn! 

Serve chilled or at room temperature. 

Whipped cream is delicious on top and so is a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Amazing!!  Easy and tasty.