Pie in a Jar

Intro: Pie in a Jar

Tiny pies.
Made in jars.
Frozen to create individual freshly baked pies when you want them.
What could be more adorable?

STEP 1: Ingredients

I always include "Ingredients" as my first step.
But in this case, the ingredients are up to you!
Have a big dinner party coming up with many different tastes?
Make your pies in different flavors! Identify them with cute tiny shapes cut out on top!

I made my own pie crusts for these, but you can use store-bought as well.

I made apple-blackberry filling (the recipe as follows) but you can use something from a can! It's that easy.

Mostly, what you need are tiny adorable jars.
Or big ones, whatever. I don't judge.

STEP 2: Apple-Blackberry Filling

Here's how I made these particular little bites of heaven:

• Peel, core and slice 4 Granny Smith apples
• Dice 1/2 cup blackberries
• Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter in a saucepan.
• Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour to form a paste.
• Add 1/8 cup water, 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Follow remaining steps.

STEP 3: Prepare Jars

Boil your jars and lids for 10 minutes if you're at sea level, and one minute for each 1000 feet of elevation above sea level. This makes sure they're clean and ready!
via: How to Can

STEP 4: Fill Jars

Fill your jars with the pie crust.

I rolled out the crust to make it pretty thin (so it's not just a jar of crust in the end - though I did make one of those too and sprinkled cinnamon on it and it was delicious), but in the end, you just have to take chunks of it and squish it all around inside the jar to make sure it's covered.

Add your pie filling and top it off with a crust. Use the lid ring to cut out the perfect size!

If you're planning on eating them right away, just fill them to the top and the crust can crown over the edges.

If you're planning on freezing them, make sure to only fill them part way so there's enough room to sink in a top crust and close the jar lid.

STEP 5: Freeze or Bake

You can't store these in the freezer forever - they're not sealed like jams are. But you can certainly make them up well ahead of time and freeze them for a bit.

When you're ready to bake these, take the jar out of the freezer and turn the oven on to preheat it at 375oF. Take off the lid and put the frozen jar on a plate or baking vessel so you'll have less thermal shock when it goes in the oven. Put a ring of foil around the edge of the pie for the first 45 minutes, take it off for 15.

Let it cool and either eat it out of the jar or run a knife around the edge to get it out.

And lastly, a note from Simple Simon, our inspiration:

The whole "glass shattering from temp changes" fear is the thing to worry about when you put the glass into direct contact with the change in temp, e.g. the stove, a campfire, boiling water, etc. A hot oven isn't the same thing at all because air has lousy heat transfer. Consider how you can stick your hand in a 210o oven for several seconds. Now consider sticking your hand in boiling water. Same temperature, but one causes a little discomfort while the other causes severe burns. The reason is that water transfers heat very well, as does metal (like a stove).

Don't ever stick your frozen jars into warm water. Don't ever stick your glass jar on the stove. Don't ever stick your hot glass jars into even room temp water. But frozen glass into a hot oven? Go for it. Cooks Illustrated (and their sisters, ATK and Cook's Country) have several recipes for things that go straight from freezer to oven with no trouble in the test kitchen, and they are where I got that information.

Comments

[AmesE]

Is it true fruit pies don't need to be refrigerated after baked? I know pies made with cream eggs or milk do. But I wasn't sure about fruit filling pie.

[GameGettingG]

I wouldn't think so. When you buy fruit pie in a store it's not refrigerated. I imagine it would be good for a few days ;)

[lauraann.modine]

I like the idea of preserving pie and cake in a jar through canning. Being gluten intolerant and a chef I love the idea..If it can be done safely. Because there are not quality convince foods out there. My thought is on the pie would it be any different than canning Jam? Other than it needs to be done under pressure

[apóvoa pereira]

It may be a silly question, but can any jar be used in the oven? I mean, can I use a jelly jar to bake a cake?

[scoochmaroo]

Not a silly question! I'm not sure that any kind of jar can be used, but one that has been used to make jam or jelly should be safe enough to stand up to the heat.

[foxyfabulous]

So I made these (delicious!) and then I made them again but used a no-bake cheesecake recipe instead. And WOW -- the tiny cheesecakes were a huge hit. Thanks for this awesome idea!!

[Margeryhopewell]

I know I saw these on someones blog.

[lawman14]

This may seem llike a silly question but do you take them out of the jars to serve or just dig in?

[scoochmaroo]

You can do either, but I'm all for the digging in!

[warlockelf]

after I got my dough just right, I lightly dusted the inside with a mixture of suger and cinnamon, and then filled 3/4 full of blackberry pie filling, then folded the extra dough over the top, it did help to cut the extra at the top into strips.

[raja681]

you sould say how many this makes

[ruthdeb]

How do you make those adorable little cutouts?  tiny cookie cutter? paring knife?  It's this little detail that makes the presentation.

[eulaliaaaa!]

You rock at making pies!  So subscribed!

[scoochmaroo]

Thanks!

[shortone]

if you put the lids on when they're right out of the oven, would they seal like your cake in a jar instructable? would they last? that would be awesome...

[robotguy4]

Hmmm... How about making a bunch of jar apple pies, then putting them into a pie crust to make an apple pies pie? Then, take a whole bunch of apple pies pies and putting them into an even bigger pie crush to make an apple pies pies pie? Then, take a whole bunch of-- well, you get the idea...

[shortone]

Sounds like someone's mind is on fractals. ;)

[Zetheros]

Sounds like you could name it the Apppieleie, like the turducken!

[Hero Under The Pine]

You my friend, just blew my mind from here to the land of the Apppieleies :D, and also, turducken is the best word ever! XD

[JJungJr]

Do you think it possible to 'can' these by keeping enough head room for a lid and seal, then going through the canning process?