Mini Cherry Pies

I feel like the title of this post could be slightly misleading. The cherries themselves aren't mini, however the pies are. I prefer making one size servings of pies and tarts simply because they're easy to distribute amongst family and friends/anyone that is willing to try my baking creations. The mother decided to bring home cherries in last weeks shop, as they were 59c in Aldi, an offer that she can never refuse. Her motto is "If no one will eat them, I will see what Katie can bake using them", I task which I'm almost always ready for. This week's taste testers (guniea pigs) were my brother and my mum. The verdict from my brother was "they're lovely" and when I still continued to watch him eat it, "it's really nice, now please go away." charming. The only time consuming part of this recipe is pitting the cherries, I cut around the pit and then took it out, so the cherries were halved when I put them into the mixture. I'm still not completely confident with baking pastry but these pies seemed to turn out pretty well. I am no longer tempted to use ready to roll pastry. However, if you would like to take some of the hassle out of this pie, feel free to use ready made pastry. How much sugar you add to the filling is completely up to you and how sweet your cherries are, I didn't use too much. I made these in a muffin tin, so I managed to make four mini pies. I would imagine you would have enough to make one big pie, if you would prefer. Happy baking!

Ingredients

For the pastry:
125g softened butter
75g caster sugar
250g plain flour
1 egg yolk
1tbsp cold water

For the filling:
200g cherries
3tbsp cornflour
50g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp milk, for brushing on the top of the pie.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and the caster sugar, not for too long, just until combined.

2. Sift in the flour and mix together with your hands until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs 

3. Add the yolk and chilled water, combining again with your hands until a dough is formed. 

4. Wrap in cling-film and leave to chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. 

5. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease the muffin tin or pie dish. 

6. Remove the dough from the fridge, set aside 1/4 of the dough for the pie tops. Place the rest on a slightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to about half a cm in thickness. Cut out a circle shape of pastry that fits your tin/dish, allowing space for the sides of the tin and a bit more to place the top against. Place inside your tin/dish, pushing into the edges. Once placed in your tin/dish, poke holes in the pastry and bake for 10 minutes. 

7. Begin pitting the cherries. As I stated above, I cut around the pit, which halved the cherry, discarding the pit and putting both halves of the cherry into a bowl. Add the cornflour, sugar and vanilla extract. 

8. Remove the pastry from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Whilst this is cooling, roll out the remainder of your dough, to a size that will sit perfectly on the top of the pies.

9. Add your filling, discarding most of the liquid that has amounted at the bottom of the bowl. Place on the pie top. Fold the edges of the top crust underneath the edges of the bottom crust. 

10. Glaze over with a tablespoon of milk. Cut 4 slits in the top of the pies. Bake for 30 minutes. 

11. Allow to cool on a wire rack until they have completely cooled. 

Upon writing this, and rereading it, I realised how long and wordy it is. This was the simplest way I could put it and I like having lots of individual points rather than one big paragraph of instructions. I hope this wasn't too difficult for you guys to follow and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

What are your favourite summer pies?