Saturday, June 28, 2008

Mini Kumquat-Blackberry Pies

DSC_0266
Recently, having made a couple pies, I had left over crust. I am fairly convinced that pie is the most noble use for nearly-spoilt fruit. So, altruistic chef as I am, I decided to turn some pre-moldy blackberries into pies. Rather than large pies, I went mini, because that is who I am.

I diced up a couple handfuls of blackberries, combined them with kumquat/ star anise marmalade in a 2-1 ratio. To the combo, I added a smidge amount of Thai basil, darmera sugar and flour.

To make tiny pies, cut your dough in half. You will need a mini-muffin tin to hold your little pies. Find a glass, cup or cookie cutter which will create rounds of dough that are slightly larger than the muffin tins circumference at its widest point. Fill your pies and top with more crust. I really enjoy doing lattice tops. Recently Zoe Bakes had a great how to on large lattice pies, and you can try the same technique with these. For mini pies, I usually cut the strips and attach them to the pie in one orientation and then weave in the weft. When my knuckles finally revolt from weaving too many mini-pies, I chop up the dough into a fine crumble, toss it with darmera sugar and top the last of the pies.

Serve these mini-pies with a very spicy chai or eat a handful of them for breakfast. (Who the heck would know?)

For a round-up of recipes that employ herbs from this week, join me for Weekend Herb Blogging, run this week by the amazing Kalyn from Kalyn's KitchenBlackberry mini pies

DSC_0303

4 comments:

Kalyn Denny said...

Really tasty looking pies. I like the idea of a touch of Thai basil.

OhioMom said...

Oh I like these, what a great idea when you have a small amount of fruit to use up.

Peter M said...

These are so cute and lattice work always gets my attention.

Anonymous said...

The pictures look amazing.. The kumquat-star anise combo is on my list :)