Things You'll Need
Pizza cutter
Muffin tin or souffle cups
Non-stick baking spray or shortening and flour
Crescent roll dough
Pie filling (such as apples, peaches or cooked chicken)
Mini pies make serving a breeze because unlike a standard pie, there's no need to worry about the first serving falling apart as you attempt to free it from the pan. The pies are even easier when made with crescent roll dough which eliminates the need to knead and roll your own pie dough. Try these for your favorite savory or sweet pie recipe. Use a muffin to hold cups in shape for pureed pie filling such as pumpkin pie or chicken pot pie, or make mini pie roll-ups with whole fruits such as apple or peach pie.
Pie Cups
Step 1
Unroll the crescent roll dough on a lightly floured work surface. Pinch along the diagonal perforated lines that separate each crescent. A standard can of crescent rolls typically contains dough for eight rolls. Pinching the dough together leaves four cut dough rectangles.
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Step 2
Cut the rectangles with a pizza cutter to make squares large enough for the edges to overlap the edges of the muffin cups. The actual size depends on the size of the muffin cups, whether you use a mini muffin pan or a standard muffin pan.
Step 3
Spray the inside of the muffin cups with non-stick baking spray or lightly grease and dust the cups with flour to prevent sticking.
Step 4
Lay a square of dough inside each muffin cup. Roll the edges of the dough with your fingers to make a round crust edge around the top of each cup. Souffle cups and other small, ovenproof cups can be used in place of muffin tins.
Step 5
Fill the dough cups to the top with your choice of pie filling, using anything from diced apples, cinnamon and sugar to diced chicken breast, gravy and vegetables. Cover the pies with a circle of dough to make an optional top crust; pinch the edges together with the bottom crust edge to seal the pie. Cut a slit in the center of each top crust to allow the pie to vent while baking.
Step 6
Bake the mini pies in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, usually 12 to 15 minutes.
Pie Roll-ups
Step 1
Unroll the pie dough on a lightly floured work surface. Cut along the cuts that form the rectangles and along the diagonal perforated lines to separate each dough triangle.
Step 2
Prepare your choice of pie filling. For apple pie roll-ups, slice apples thinly and toss with cinnamon and sugar. Try thinly sliced peaches tossed with sugar to make peach pie roll-ups. Shredded chicken, julienne-cut carrots and sliced onions can even be used to make an adaptation of chicken pot pie.
Step 3
Arrange a few pieces of the filling along the wide end of the triangle, leaving about 1/2-inch margin from the edge. For sweet pies, try spreading some of the sugar and spice mixture over the crescent dough before placing the fruit slices to make the finished pie roll-ups extra syrupy and sweet.
Step 4
Roll up the pie filling pieces in the crescent roll dough, working your way from the wide end to the narrow, pointed tip of the triangle. Place each roll-up on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick baking spray.
Step 5
Bake the mini pie roll-ups at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the crust is golden brown and the filling ingredients are soft, usually about 10 to 12 minutes.
Tip
Bake the pie shells in advance and allow them to cool completely before using them to make cold pies such as lemon meringue or chocolate pudding pies.
If you prefer, pinch all cut and perforated lines in the dough to make a large rectangle of dough. Cut out circles of dough from this large piece to make more attractive pie crust for mini pie cups. Each circle should measure 1-1/2 to 2 times the diameter of the muffin cups.
The dough might even hold a cup shape just by forming the cups with your fingers without any cup form, but this works best with chilled dough.
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