Strawberry Pielettes

Last weekend, hubby and I finally hosted a housewarming party after being in our house for approximately two months.  I came up with this monstrously long list of things I wanted to make, which hubby then had to help me cull down.  I stuck mostly with recipes that have been a hit before, but I really wanted to make little bite size fruity pie/tart hybrids.  The coffee shop across from my college - Brewed Awakenings in Cedar Rapids, IA if you're ever in town - made little tarts that were amazing, ESPECIALLY the mulberry one.  The crust was perfectly sweet and tender.  I wanted to do something similar.  I knew what I did not want my crust to be; I didn't want it super flaky (a la apple pie) but I didn't want it to be hard and buttery (a la lemon meringue tarts).  I wanted something almost cookie like, but not quite.  Looking through  my recipes, I came across the hand pies my sister and I made for her husband months ago and TADA we've got a crust.  

These little pielettes (name in progress, not quite a pie, not quite a tartlette) were a smash! Everyone, including me, thought they were great.  I used strawberry preserves for the party ones, and having a few empty shells after the strawberry ran out, used some fig  as well.  Hubby preferred the fig.  I think you could do just about any fruit in these: peach, apple, berries galore. 

 The crust isn't exactly what I wanted; next time, I'll use butter instead of crisco and substitute some brown for white sugar. 

Strawberry Pielettes

(makes 48)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• approximately 2 cups strawberry preserves (or any other variety)
• whipped cream
• sliced fruit/additional berries for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 2 mini-muffin pans (or if you just have 1, bake in two parts).

Cream together sugar, shortening, and egg until fluffy.  Beat in vinegar, milk, and vanilla extract.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 cup flour.  Add to the wet ingredients.  Add flour in 1/2 cup increments, mixing well after each addition.  Add additional flour, if necessary, to ensure dough is not sticky. 

Roll 1-inch balls of dough and drop into each cup of the muffin pan.  Press the dough to fill the muffin cup, creating an indentation into which you will put the preserves.  You can use your fingers for this; I used the end of my ice cream scoop which had the perfect diameter.  If you use an instrument, make sure you keep it greased or the dough will stick to it and pull up.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.  The crust will puff up a bit; if it puffs too much, use a spoon to gently remove some from the center.  Spoon a tablespoon or so of preserves into each, filling them almost to the very top.  Try not to drip preserves on the rims of the pielettes.

Bake approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the crust  appears set and slightly golden.  Let cool in pan for a few minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.  A tip for removing them: if you rotate the pielettes in the muffin cup, then should pull out easily.  

Once cool and you're ready to serve, garnish with a plop of whipped cream and slice of strawberry (or whatever fruit you've used).