Star-Spangled Mini Pies

Dressing up food so it looks more elaborate than it really is, is one of my favorite entertaining “tricks.” That’s exactly what I did with these star-spangled mini pies as seen in the 4th of July dessert table I did here.

To give these little pies a festive touch I filled store-bought mini pie crusts {graham cracker crusts in the baking aisle of the grocer} with either blueberry pie filling or cherry pie filling. Then covered them with star cutouts made with refrigerator pie dough.

These look really cute and I love the combination of flavors with the graham crust + fruit filling + pie crust. Just follow the simple steps below and I guarantee you’ll get “oohs” and “aahs” from your guests!

• Use refrigerator pie dough and roll it out according to package directions.
• Cut out circles to top your mini pies, using a martini glass or other large circle.
• Use star shaped cutters to press out shapes from the dough. Here I used a tiny size to cut out several stars in the middle of the pie crust, and a medium size to cut out 1 center star for another pie.
• Using the excess dough, cut out several medium stars and begin overlapping them on top of the pie to create a starry crust. Make an egg wash {1 egg yolk + a little water} and brush over the stars to keep them together. Brush the other pies with the egg wash as well.
• Cook pies until crust is golden brown.

I hope you’ll add some of these mini pies to your 4th of July table. Of course you can always change it up for the occasion by using apple cutouts like I did here, or flowers, leaves, hearts, etc.  Bon Appetit!

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