Mini Pies & Pie shots

Whenever there's pie, there's Lai. We (as in mostly Lai) made these mini pies and pie shots. This time it's not just apple pies. One of them is blackberry. It all started out with me wanting pie and Lai being there. We had two Fuji apples, one jumbo-size and one regular-size. Thinking that there wouldn't be enough apples, we decided to utilize the blackberries in the fridge. Thinking that we don't have enough crust, we overcompensated and ended up with extra pie crust. As a result, the pie shots were born.

The crust this time was especially good, perfectly flaky and buttery. The last time we made pie, some corners were cut. We just used store-bought pie crust, and it had a weird after-taste. I guess with pies, it's all or nothing. Making the crust is time-consuming, but well-worth it. Nothing beats homemade crust from the Lai:

Hello, I'm Lai and I am Karen's pie-slave. Here's my recipe.

For the pie crust, do not be shy with the fats. After all, you are making pie for yourself. You might as well burn the ship you're sinking in and go down in blaze and glory.

For a 9'' pie round (multiply by two if you are making a covered pie with another 9'' round piece)

4 TBS butter, chilled

3 TBS shortening, chilled

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup ice water

Chill the fats in the freezer for 15 minutes, then cut into small chunks.

Combine the flour and the salt, then add the chilled fats (butter and shortening) and crumble them together until it gets mealy-lookin.

Spritz the surface with the icy water, mix, spritz, mix, spritz, mix, until you get a doughy substance. Roll it up into a disk shape, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If you're making a covered pie, using this recipe x2, now divide your dough in half and wrap two disk-shaped doughs.

Make sure to keep it away from any Karens, who will come and nibble at it when you are not looking.

Roll your chilled disks out on a flour-dusted surface, and press into pie-tin. Poke the bottoms with a fork a couple of times. Filling time.

For the apple filling, find a couple of apples. Unfortunately apple sizes now go from the size of a baby's fist to the size of a baby's head. I would say aim for the middle. I like a combination of Fuji and Grannysmith, because I prefer a crunchier filling. Those who like mushier apples, Roma apples are pretty awesome. They also have a really deep crimson skin, the color almost resembling blood. Which is a plus, maybe?

3-5 tart apples, peeled

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 TBS flour

1 TBS lemon juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Core and slice the apples. Mix sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt, and just right before you're going to put them into the pie crust, fold in the apple slices. Add the lemon juice, and mix one last time before you fill your pie.

Cover the pie however you like, but make sure you put some holes on top so the apples can breathe while they boil in their own juices. Delicious.

For the blackberry filling,

I don't have the recipe. I'm guessing you roll the blackberries in some magic concoction of lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch. Maybe lemon zest.

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