If you love pie, mason jars, and simplicity this is a fantastic project to try out. And who doesn't love all three!

Step 1: Step 1: Gather Needed Materials and Make Crust & Filling

I used what I had around the house for this project and most people have what it takes, too. Mason jars, fruit (canned or fresh), ingredients for pastry crust and filling, and an oven. Here are the recipes I used for my project (they're from www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-a-jar/):

Pastry Crust: (will make 4 jars)
2 C Flour
11 T Butter (real butter, no exceptions) that’s just over 2/3 C.
1/4 t Salt
4-5 T ice water

Filling: (about ½ C for each jar)
2 C prepared fruit (pitted, diced, peeled, etc.)
2 T sugar- brown or white (use more or less depending on sweetness of fruit)
2 T flour- (again, more if your fruit is super juicy like cherries, less if it’s pretty dry)
1 T butter (divided between the pies)
Seasonings/flavorings- cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and almond extract, citrus zest etc)

Step 2: Step 2: Filling the Jars

For this step, you need to divide up the pastry crust (which will be enough for 4 1qt. size jars). Plop a ball of pastry crust into each jar and work it up the sides, there's no need to coat the insides of the jars with anything, the pie will slide right out after being cooked. Make sure to work the crust all the way up the inner walls of the jar to leave plenty of room for the filling. After putting in the crust, fill each jar with about 1/2 Cup of filling.

After that, you can freeze them or cook them right away! If you put them directly in the oven, cook them for 45min. at 350 degrees. If you cook them after they've been frozen, put them in the oven to warm up while the oven is warming up then start the timer for 50 minutes at 350 degrees once the oven reaches the temperature.

Step 3: Step 3: Eat!

Once they've been cooked, wait until the glass feels warm to shake the pies out onto plates. I just shook them out of their jars and then flipped them right side up. It was surprisingly easy to do.