Pie in a jar

I have such a neat little treat to share with you today! I am going to show you how to make darling little single serve pies in a jar. The kids loved them and so did I! Prince Charming looked at them with disgust admiration he doesn't liked cooked fruit. That is ok more for me the kids!

First you will need jars like these. Aren't they cute all by themselves? You can find these in the canning aisle. Don't be tempted to use any ol jar as you will be baking in them.

I make my pie crust from scratch but you could use refrigerated if you had to! Here is my recipe:

Never Fail Pie Crust

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups butter flavored shortening (I never have this so I usually do 1 cup cold butter and 1 cup shortening)
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ice water
1 egg
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, shortening, sugar and salt.
2. Add ice water, vinegar and egg. Beat to combine.

3. You don't even have to roll this out you can just pat it into your pan if you want. I do roll mine because I like to make them fancy and I use the same crust for the top. To roll just wrap the dough up and place it in the refrigerator to chill and then roll it out with a tiny bit of flour.

Once you have your dough you will want to cut a circle of dough to fit down inside your jar. If you have one of the sandwich cutters from pampered chef it was the perfect size!

Now we are going to fill it. I had cherry pie filling on hand so that is what I used. Now don't hate me because I used store bought, I was only making an afternoon snack not trying to win a contest. You could make your filling from hand, tiny apple pies made from scratch would be super easy! I filled about 8 little jars, from one can.

You can find great filling recipes here: http://www.allrecipes.com/

I wanted a little top on mine so I used the lid to cut out the perfect size top. Make sure you cut a vent hole. I used a little flower cutter here, but anything would work. You could use a heart and give them to your sweetie pie. Hey that would be a great way to say I love you. I will have to add that to my list of 25 ways to say I love you. Oh sorry I got distracted back to the task at hand. If you don't want a top you could do a crumb topping too!

Now all you need to do is place them on a baking sheet and bake them for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Careful when them come out the are piping hot!

So you say we can't eat 8 little pies at one time. Check this out! You can freeze them!!! You will have and endless supply of little pies. I am thinking of decorating the jar lids and giving them to my neighbors who just had a baby girl with the dinner I am making. Wouldn't that be cute? To freeze them all you need to do is place the lid on them and throw them in. I can just imagine a freezer filled with delectable little pies. Come on spring I need rhubarb!!!

Enjoy!