Featured in Guide: Spring Tea Party
Ingredients
(For the crust)
1 ⅓ cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
Pinch salt
½ cup chopped, chilled vegan butter
3 tbsp cold water
(For the filling)
2 cups blueberries
1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp lemon juice or add LOTS of juice because you're addicted to lemons
Instructions
Whisk dry ingredients together.
Add the butter and cut it into the flour using a fork. Don't use your hands, they will melt the butter and you won't achieve a flaky, buttery crust.
When the butter is incorporated in small pieces, add the water 1 tbsp at a time. Only add enough to bring the dough together.
Roll the dough into a large rectangle about the thickness you want for your crust, cover in plastic wrap, let sit in freezer for 30 minutes.
Take out the dough and cut circles (I used a glass rim, then flattened more in my hands) large enough to fill the base and sides of a cup cake tin.
Grease a cupcake tin, then gently fit the dough into the cupcake spots, patching up any tears with more dough. Put the tin back in the freezer.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Prepare the filling by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl.
Take the tin out of the freezer and fill the pies.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Makes about 6 mini pies, using all filling but with leftover dough.
Notes
Want to make this non-vegan?
Just sub the vegan butter for normal stick butter. Easy.
The dough
Don't stress about the whole cutting-in-chilled-butter thing. It's not that bad. Start by throwing your dry ingredients together. Ok, now get your butter out. Chop it up. Put the butter in the bowl and attack it with a fork. Smash it, scratch it, flatten it. Mesh with the butter until it's in smallish pieces. The smaller the better, but who has that much patience? Look at the picture below! Alright, now add the cold water. We want this dough to stay cold to keep the butter from melting. 1 tbsp of water probably won't change your dough very much. Mix it in, add another. How's it looking? You can touch the dough with your hand (but not for long) to see if it sticks together. Add another tbsp of water if you think you need it (I didn't). It should stick together now, with a little coaxing. Use your hands again to bring it together. It shouldn't be sticky or wet, just moist enough to hold together when you compress it in your hands a little. It might still be a tad crumbly, that's ok. You did it! Roll that dough out into a rectangle, cover it in plastic wrap, and chuck it in the freezer!
Calories
Baked goods are often high in sugar, fat, and carbs. As someone who bakes often, I have to watch how much I eat. I love to eat. I do. I also love to have a healthy body. That being said, I appreciate when a recipe states a calorie count. So I've decided to provide that for you.
Total calories: 1,698
Divide that by how many pies you made. I made 6, so my calories should be 283 per pie. BUT I didn't use all of my dough for the crust. I had extra at the end. I used about 3.4 of my dough, so I think that each pie is closer to 222 calories per pie. If you used different ingredients, your calories will be different.
This is how the dough should look before you add the water.
Make sure to spray your cupcake tins with grease right before you put the dough in. I was terrified that the pies wouldn’t come out, but they DID! I was so pleased with them. I also used a glass to cut out 6 circles, then flattened the dough out a bit more with my fingers. The thicker the crust, the more time it needs to bake. The thinner the crust the more chance you have of breaking your pies. Use your judgement. When in doubt, I prefer to go thinner because they might look ugly but at least they'll taste better. No one likes a thick pie crust.
Pies are filled and ready for the oven.
Baked, out of their tins, and ready to taste!
These pies are tiny and perfect for a tea party. The crust is buttery. The filling is sweet and sour. The color is gorgeous. PLEASE make these. Take them on a picnic. Give them to your neighbors. Enjoy spring!
Love,
Rachel