Saturday, May 3, 2014

Mason Jar Lid Pies


 Everyone loves mini-pies, it seems...
but not everyone has mini-pie pans at their disposal.
Or do they?
Who doesn't have Mason jar lids in their cupboard?
They work fabulously as a wee pie pan.
The mason jar lids are like a little spring-form pan...
and the wee pies pop right out.
They are the perfect little hand-pie!

The rhubarb in the garden is ready for the picking...
so I decided do see for myself if the Mason jar lids really doubled as pie pans.
And yes...they do.

Ingredients:
  • 6 Mason jar lids and rings, wide-mouth size
  • 1 box refrigerated pie crust or pastry for a double-crusted pie.
  • 2 cups rhubarb, chopped
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Wash and chop rhubarb quite fine
  2. Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour and nutmeg. Set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  4. Place 6 wide-mouth mason jar rings on the baking sheet. Place 6 lids inside the rings with the rubber seal facing down and the top of the lid facing up. Spray the lids and rings with non-stick cooking spray.
  5. Roll out pastry for one pie crust (or use refrigerated pastry). Using a mason jar ring as a guide, create a bottom crust by cutting a circle about 1/2 inch around the lid.
  6. Carefully fit the crust inside a jar lid on the prepared pan. The crust should hang over edge of ring a bit.
  7. Repeat until you have 6 bottom crusts. (You will need to re-roll the scraps.)
  8. Place filling into each crust.
  9. To make the top crusts, roll out the second sheet of pastry and use a jar ring to cut 6 more circles.
  10. Place the top crusts over the filling. Try to pinch the top and bottom pastry together to seal. (As you can see, my seal never quite held!)
  11. Prick upper crust with fork in several places.
  12. Bake the pies in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden.
  13. Cool on a wire rack. 
  14. Run a knife along the edge of the mason jar ring to release the pie.
Serves 6

* The mason jar lids wash up beautifully in the dishwasher!