Mini Blueberry Pies

Blueberry and lemon make a perfect pair like peanut butter and jelly. They come together in this Mini Blueberry Pie recipe to bring you these sweet and tangy little hand pies. Get fancy with beautiful decorations and make them a work of art!

Add a little sunshine to your life with these tangy and sweet little mini blueberry pies. Made with fresh blueberries – quickly cooked into an easy blueberry pie filling – and homemade lemon curd, wrapped in flaky pie crust, I can think of nothing better except for perhaps adding a scoop of ice cream on top!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Perfect size – this mini blueberry pie recipe yields 9 perfectly sized hand pies you can snack on anytime of the day.
• Both fresh and frozen blueberries work which means you can make this recipe anytime of the year. I love using in season fresh fruits but if you have a hankering for blueberry pie in the middle of winter, grab a bag of frozen blueberries and get to work!
• Save time with store bought pie dough and simplify the process! While I’m entirely partial to homemade pie dough, refrigerated pie dough or even puff pastry dough will make this recipe easy as pie.

Tools you’ll need

Depending on whether you’ll take a shortcut with store bought pie dough and whether you decide to decorate your mini pies or not, you may need the following tools:

• A food processor or stand mixer to make the pie dough. Or you can make it by hand too!
• A 3″ round cookie cutter to cut circles for your hand pies.
• Small cookie cutter or pie stamps for cutting the decorations if you choose. I use the inserts of a Linzer cookie cutter set for small star and moon shapes.
• A ruler and pizza wheel to cut thin strips of dough for the braided decorations.
• A baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat to bake the pies on.
• A pastry brush to apply egg wash.

Ingredients and substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips for the main groups of ingredient:

1. One batch of pie dough – this includes all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt, unsalted butter, and cold water. You can use store bought refrigerated pie dough instead. Make sure to buy the type that you can roll out, not the one already shaped in a pie pan. If you want to make the decorations, prepare to use two batches of pie dough or you’ll end up with a smaller batch of pies.

2. Blueberry pie filling – made with fresh or frozen blueberries, zest and juice of a lemon, granulated sugar, salt, and cornstarch to thicken. You can use tapioca starch or all-purpose flour to thicken as well. You can also use blueberry jam or leftover blueberry compote as filling options.

3. Lemon curd – homemade lemon curd or store bought both work in this recipe. This adds another layer of flavor to the pie filling.

4. Egg wash – one egg and a tablespoon of cream, milk, or water, beaten together. This mixture get brushed on the surface of the pie crust to create that golden brown color when baked. You’ll also use it to “glue” the decorations onto the mini pies if you choose to decorate them.

5. Turbinado sugar – sprinkle this on top of your hand pies for sparkle and a little texture. White sanding sugar will work too.

How to make mini blueberry pies

In the following sections, I will break down these blueberry mini pies into three main components: the crust, the filling, and the decorations. Follow along to learn how to make them. Or skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

Make the pie crust

For these mini blueberry pies, as well as for all of my pie recipes, I use my trusty homemade all butter pie crust. I have a whole post dedicated to making pie dough with different methods and all the tips and tricks. But to save a little time you can also use store bought refrigerated pie dough.

If you’re intimidated by pie dough, let me reassure you that this can be made fairly quickly and easily using a food processor or in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or even by hand. Allow it to rest in the refrigerator for an hour before rolling out. Skip ahead to making the blueberry pie filling and come back to the crust when ready.

Once your pie dough had a chance to hydrate and it is ready to work with, you will roll it out to about ⅛” to ¼” thick. Cut 18 circles using a 3″ round cookie cutter. You will use 9 for the top crust and 9 for the bottom crust.

Note: One batch of pie dough will be enough for 9 hand pies without decoration. If you wish to make the decorations, make an extra batch of pie dough. Or if you want to use just 1 batch of pie dough, only cut out 12 circles to make 6 hand pies and use the leftover dough for decoration.

Make the lemon blueberry pie filling

This hand pie filling consists of a dollop of leftover homemade lemon curd and a big dollop of a super quick and easy blueberry pie filling, which has been precooked and ready in just 5 minutes.

Simply toss together the blueberries (fresh or frozen) with sugar that has been mixed with cornstarch, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice. Cook for 5 minutes until thickened, then set aside to cool completely before using.

Variation tips: Other options you can use for pie filling are blueberry jam and leftover blueberry compote. The lemon curd can be homemade or store bought to save time, or skip it all together, that’s totally fine too.

Make the decorations

There are two parts to the decorations: the braids and the shape cutouts. For the braids, you’ll want to use a pizza wheel and a ruler to cut thin long strips of dough. Make sure to cut them long enough to go all around your mini blueberry lemon pie, about 9″-10″ long strips will work.

Pinch 3 strips together at the top and form a braid. Keeping the dough cold will help with the braiding.

For the shape cutouts, use any small cookie cutters you have available or pie stamps to cut out cut shapes. In my case, I used the inserts of a Linzer cookie cutter set, they are about 1″ in size.

Tip: While you’re working with the dough, keep everything you’ve already cut out, like the circles for the top and bottom crusts, dough strips, braids, shapes, in the refrigerator.

Assemble blueberry hand pies

When you have everything ready to go: blueberry pie filling is cooled down, pie crust and decorations all prepped, get a bowl of egg wash ready by beating together an egg and a tablespoon of milk (cream or water will work too). Let’s get down to assembling these blueberry mini pies.

Work on one mini pie at a time, take out a circle for the bottom crust. Add a teaspoon of lemon curd and a heaping tablespoon of blueberry pie filling on top. Add egg wash on the edge around the filling.

Take out another circle for the top crust, and roll it out with a small rolling pin or stretch it with your hand just slightly larger than the bottom crust. Add it on top to cover the filling and seal the edges using a fork. Use a small knife to poke steam vents in the middle of the top crust.

Decorations are optional, but they add a special touch to these cute mini hand pies. Use egg wash as “glue” for your decorations. If the braids are too long when you add them on the pie, simply trim the ends to fit. If the braids are too short, use the shapes to cover up the empty space. Also use the shapes to cover the seams of the braids. Voila!

Tip: Keep the assembled pies in the refrigerator or freezer (preferred) while you’re working on the next one.

And then finally, when you’re ready to bake them, add generous coat of egg wash all over and sprinkle them with turbinado sugar for sparkle and crunch.

More baker’s tips

• Keep the temperature cool – it’s important to keep the temperature of the dough cool throughout the process so the dough doesn’t become too soft which makes it difficult to work with.
• Freezing before baking – if you have room in your freezer, freezing the unbaked pies, with decorations and all, about 15 minutes to half an hour before baking (while you’re preheating the oven) is recommended to keep the crust more flaky and the decorations from spreading out of shape. If freezing is not an options, keep them refrigerated.
• Change up the filling for fun – you can use just about any berries or anything for that matter for the filling. See these strawberry hand pies!

Storage

These blueberry hand pies are best the day they are baked, especially when still slightly warm. Leftovers can be kept at room temperature overnight but I recommend refrigerating the hand pies if you don’t plan to finish them within a day or two.

They will last up to a week under refrigeration and 3-6 months in the freezer. Store them in an airtight container. And thaw completely at room temperature before serving.

If you’re like me and prefer your mini blueberry pies a bit warm with crispy crust, toast them up in the oven at 350°F for about 5 – 7 minutes.

FAQs

More hand pies

• Chocolate Strawberry Hand Pies
• Apple Hand Pies
• Peach Hand Pies
• Pumpkin Hand Pies
• PB&J Pop Tarts

5 from 1 vote

Mini Blueberry Pies

By Trang Doan

Blueberry and lemon make a perfect pair like peanut butter and jelly. They come together in this Mini Blueberry Pie recipe to bring you these sweet and tangy little hand pies. Get fancy with beautiful decorations and make them a work of art!

Servings: 9 hand pies

Prep Time: 1 hour hr

Cook Time: 16 minutes mins

Resting Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 16 minutes mins

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Equipment

• Food Processor
• Pastry Brush
• Linzer Cookie Cutter
• Baking Sheet

Ingredients 

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1 batch of pie dough

• ▢ 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 200 g
• ▢ 2 rounded tablespoon granulated sugar, 35 g
• ▢ ¼ rounded teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 5 oz unsalted butter, cubed & cold, 142 g
• ▢ 3 tablespoon cold water

Pie Filling

• ▢ 2 cup fresh blueberry, 10 oz, 283 g
• ▢ Zest of 1 lemon
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, 24 g
• ▢ 2 tablespoon cornstarch, 15 g
• ▢ A pinch of kosher salt
• ▢ 9 teaspoon lemon curd

Egg wash

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon of cream, milk or water
• ▢ Turbinado sugar

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Instructions 

Prepare the blueberry filling

• Wash and dry the blueberries and lemon.
• Zest and juice the lemon.
• Add sugar and cornstarch to a small bowl and mix to combine.
• Add blueberries to a small sauce pan and sprinkle the cornstarch mixture over the berries.
• Add salt, lemon zest and juice to the saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until thicken, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Set the filling aside to cool.

Make the dough

• Add flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Then transfer to a food processor fitted with the dough blade.
• Cube the cold butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size, variation in size is okay, but no smaller than a pea.
• Turn the food processor to “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and get a spatula to get the flour at the bottom to mix up.
• Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
• Optional: If you wish to make decorations for these hand pies, make an extra batch of pie dough.

Prepare the pie

• Take the pie dough out of the refrigerator and roll out to between 1/8” to 1/4” thick. Use extra flour to keep dough from sticking to the counter and roller. Cut into circles using a 3” cookie cutter.
• Re-roll the scraps and continue to cut into circles. One batch of pie crust should yield 18 circles, enough for 9 hand pies. Place the circles on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Optional: At this point, you can roll out the second batch of pie dough to create decorations if desired. Cut shapes using mini decorative cookies cutters, and cut strips about 1/8” thick to create braids for the borders.
• Beat an egg with one tablespoon of cream, milk or water to make egg wash.
• Take out the dough circles from earlier, place half of them on a parchment line baking sheet about 1”-2” apart.
• With the other half, roll them out slightly larger than originally, about half an inch more. These will be used as the top of the hand pies.
• Brush egg wash around the edge of one of the circles on the baking sheet, spoon 1 teaspoon of lemon curd in the middle, and spoon 1 very heaping tablespoon of the blueberry filling on top. Take one of the larger circles rolled out earlier and cover the filling. Press the edges together and seal with a fork. Repeat for the remaining circles.
• Optional: To decorate the pies, brush the top of the pies, wherever you want the decorations to stick to with egg wash and add decorations on top. Trim the braided pieces to fit the entire circle or half circle. Add cut out shapes to cover the seams, or ends of the braids.
• Preheat the oven to 425°F, let the pies rest in the freezer (or refrigerator) while the oven is preheating.
• Just before baking, brush egg wash generously over the entire surface of the pies, including the decorations. Create steam vents on the top by poking holes with the tip of a paring knife. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
• Bake 16 minutes uncovered until golden brown
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool to the touch on a wire rack.

Notes

• You can use homemade or store bought lemon curd for this recipe.
• Blueberry jam or leftover blueberry compote can also be used as the pie filling.
• Unbaked hand pies can be kept frozen for up to 3 months and baked straight from frozen, adding a few minutes to the baking time.
• Leftovers can be kept at room temperature for 1 – 2 day, up to a week in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the freezer.
• Reheat the pies in the oven at 350°F for about 5 – 7 minutes to crisp up the crust.

Nutrition

Serving: 95g, Calories: 266kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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