Table Talk » My contribution to the Mini Pie Revolution

Ann and Karyn over at The Mini Pie Revolution Headquarters are seeking to liberate the world from cupcake oppression by taking cupcake pans and using them to make mini pies. You already know that I am a fan of mini desserts. I read about the Mini Pie Revolution on Serious Eats just after making my mini pumpkin chiffon pies.

Since Christmas is tomorrow, and Christmas means desserts, and I have a thing for mini desserts, and my dad loves lemon meringue pie. I made Mini Lemon Meringue Pies.

OK, so before these pies, I've made pie crust twice in my life and both times were in the past month, and those pie crusts were gluten-free for one of my clients. I knew that the biggest challenge of making these mini lemon meringue pies would be figuring out how to work the miniature pie crusts. I decided to use foil cupcake pans to bake my pies. Why? Because I knew that if I had trouble getting the baked crusts out of the pan, I could use my kitchen scissors and release the crusts from the pans. My first attempt at the crusts was a wreck. Sorry, no picture. The crusts shrunk down to nothing. For Take 2, I did a better job of pricking holes in the crusts and I also placed a paper muffin cup liner inside each pie and filled it with dry beans to weigh down the crust. My second set of mini pie crusts didn't shrink. Yay!

I made a simple lemon filling, which I let cool then refrigerated for a few hours. I went back and forth about adding the meringue topping tonight or waiting until tomorrow, but I didn't want to have to haul all the meringue makings to my parents' home, so I did the meringue tonight. I've made meringue before to mix in to a recipe, but I've never made a meringue-topped pie. The meringue recipe has you whip in a bit of cornstarch once stiff peaks form. A mini pie doesn't give you a lot of room to make a beautifully swirled meringue top (at least not if you have my meringue spreading skills). But it was easy to spread the meringue on the mini pies. The meringue browned nicely after about 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

lemon meringue pie

Posted December 24, 2007 9:19 PM in Miscellaneous

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5 Comment(s)

MarcyK said… (on December 25, 2007 at 00:48 AM #)

Oh P, I have to get you some mini brioche pans. They make some really cute pies. Yours look beautiful. I'm cheating and using store bought curd!!

LynB said… (on December 26, 2007 at 16:14 PM #)

This is sooooo cool. I have to try this. My mother loves pecan pie think I could find a small pecan pie this holiday season? Nada.. but I could do this and freeze the rest.. hmmmmmm brain is in high gear.. ::::GRIN::::: Lovely result by the way.

Debra Lane said… (on December 26, 2007 at 20:10 PM #)

Those look great! Okay, I am cheating too and using premade mini tart shells but will make the filling homemade for my next holiday gathering in a few days.

JanH said… (on December 26, 2007 at 23:52 PM #)

What beauties! Just imagine all the other fillings you could plop into these mini crusts - chocolate, key lime, banana cream, berry, eggnog.....

Ann said… (on January 1, 2008 at 09:13 AM #)

These are adorable and look lucious. Thanks so much for joining The Mini Pie Revolution! Drop by and read the round-up!


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