MINI COCOTTE BLUEBERRY LEMON PIES

 

a little while ago after making a chocolate pie, i had a bit of left over pie dough that i didn't want to throw away. i hate having to waste any little bit of food! so i decided to test out the idea of making an individual pie in one of my mini cocottes. i absolutely loved how it turned out & knew i had to develop a blog post around it! any excuse to use my mini cocottes. for this particular recipe i did a blueberry lemon filling because i was inspired by the beautiful spring like weather we had this weekend! however, you can honestly fill it with what ever fruit pie filling you like best & decorate it as fancy or simple as you prefer. i took the time to get very detailed on my first pie, until the daylight started to end.. then i had to hurry up & get these bad boys in the oven before i lost all my light. anyways.. now you can eat a whole pie without any judgement:)

ingredients

(makes 4 mini cocotte pies)

for the pie dough

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon raw sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold + cubed
  • 1/3 cup vegetable shortening, cold
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup ice water
  • 1 egg, for egg wash (can also use cream)

for the pie filling

  • 3 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1/3 cup raw sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice + zest from half a lemon
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

directions

for the pie dough

  • using a food processor pulse the flour, salt and sugar.
  • add the cubed butter, shortening and vanilla. pulse until a crumb like mixture forms.
  • add the cold water one tablespoon at a time until the crumbs begin to come together. turn out onto a pastry board and shape dough into a disk. if dough seems wet, add a bit more flour. if the dough seems dry, add a bit more water.
  • wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours.
  • pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
  • on a floured surface roll out pie dough to 3/4 cm thick. cut out four circles & line greased/floured mini pie dishes/cocottes.
  • evenly distribute blueberry filling amongst the pies.
  • decorate top as desired with remaining half of dough.
  • brush with egg wash or heavy cream & sprinkle with raw sugar.
  • bake for 25-30 minutes. if top begins to brown too quickly, cover in foil.
  • serve hot from oven with vanilla ice cream!

for the pie filling

  • in a mixing bowl toss blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, lemon zest & vanilla. set aside until ready to roll out the pies.

NOTE: you can use the ceramic or cast iron mini cocottes. if you don't have either of those on hand, mini pie plates will work as well!