Recipe: Mini Blueberry Pies with Pecan Oat Crumble

(From Hourie Sahakian, Head Baker of Short Cake)

For the Pie Crust

2 lbs flour
3.5 oz sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp salt
1 ¼ lbs of cold unsalted butter, cubed (Straus Family Creamery Organic Unsalted Butter)
4 oz shortening, cold and cubed (Spectrum Organic Non-Hydrogenated Palm Oil Shortening)
½ lb of ice water

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor with a blade.  Pulse in freezing cold butter and shortening.  Don’t overwork.  Pulse until the butter is incorporated to the size of peas or oat flakes.

Move dough to a mixer with a paddle attachment.  Add a little ice water at a time just until the dough comes together.  You may not use all the ice water.  Do not make the dough too wet.  It is good to see big pieces of butter.

Wrap dough, then chill dough for at least 30 minutes.

Pecan Oat Crumble 

1 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup oats
¼ cup pecans
½ cup brown sugar
6 oz butter, melted and cooled.

Mix dry ingredients.  Add melted butter slowly, a little bit at a time, until crumble forms.  Be careful that it does not form into dough.  Chill in the fridge while you make and assemble the pies.

Filling

1 lb + 2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
8 Tbsp sugar
1 ¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
2 vanilla beans
2 Tbsp Cornstarch

Put 1 lb of the blueberries, water, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla beans in a saucepan over medium heat until fruit softens, about 10 minutes.  Strain and save juice.  Remove vanilla beans.

Add 3 Tbsp of juice to the cornstarch and whisk.  Heat the remaining juice.  Add the cornstarch mixture slowly, and bring juice to a boil until desired thickness.  You will know when the compote is ready when you can run a spatula across the bottom of your pan and it leaves a path in the compote.   Take mixture off of heat.  Fold in strained blueberries.  Fold in the last 2 cups of fresh blueberries.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll pie dough to 1/8 of an inch.  Let chill.  Cut and fit to desired pie pan.  We use 4 inch mini aluminum pie tins.  Leave overhang and crimp edge.

For 4 inch pie pans, fill each pie crust with blueberry compote, about 3.5 ounces.   Top with about 1 ounce of pecan crumble, or enough to cover the top of the pie.  Brush edges of crust with milk, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, or until very golden brown.

Compote makes enough to make about 7 or 8 four inch pies.  The crust will make enough to make about 32 four inch pie rounds.  Pie dough can be frozen and stored.