A Pie Crust Hack For Home Cooks is the perfect tip for individual size baked goods, making a home cook look like a Patissier!
Home Cooks Can Look Like A Professional Baker
Ever walk past a Patisserie, look into the window at the most magnificent pastries and wish you could bake like that?
Well, you can, trust me, you can!
A simple twist I learned to play on the mind of those that indulged in my baked goods, is one I want to share with you.
Individual Baked Goods are the secret!
We can take any one of our favorite recipes for sweet or savory pies, a favorite cake recipe or a bread dough recipe and make them look professional.
Same recipe, simply make them into individual size portions.
Large Pies Are Yummy But Messy
Ever notice how 100% ‘photographable‘ your very best pie recipe looks just before you serve it?
Cut one single slice out of that fabulous pie, and suddenly its photographability just dropped to 25%.
Basically, everything holding it together, ie the crust, just started to cave in.
Consequently, it doesn’t hold up as well in the fridge, once it has been sliced.
We are going to fix all of that!
Pie Crust Hack For Easy Pie Crusts
I love making mini tarts, cakes and bread buns baked in removable bottom, frugally affordable, Ball Mason Jar Lids.
The size of any baked good is perfect for individual serving, or easy to stack in the freezer for later enjoyment.
Kitchen Hack Tools
Tools for a cook are like paint brushes to an artist; you can never have enough to make the job more interesting!
Ever notice how expensive the kitchen tools we want to buy have become?
A muffin tin, a tart pan, removable bottom pans for mini buns, breads or cakes are all crazy expensive.
Don’t get me wrong, I have spent years collecting so many porcelain and pottery baking dishes.
Food just looks ‘special’ in them.
Although I have a lovely collection, when I am having a family gathering, there just isn’t enough to serve that many people.
Rather than resort to lots of large pies, or loaves of bread that become stale once cut open, I now use ‘lids’ to make all my fancy baked goods.
Mason Jar Lids For An Easy Pie Crust Hack
That’s all, just the lid to a jar.
You don’t even have to buy the Mason jar to get the lid, though depending on where you shop, you might find it more cost effective to just buy the jar with the lid.
For example:
- Amazon sells the lids, 12 lids in a pack
- Hardware stores
- Local Farm supply stores
Why Kitchen Hacks?
I have a rather large family.
We get together often and celebrate our lives, over great food, like, really great food because everyone in my family cooks and a few are professionals in the industry.
I have found it so much easier to serve individual portions of desserts or savory pub pies, rather than make large cakes or pies.
They often look better, there isn’t crumbs and filling falling out all over the place, and leftovers don’t start to dry out from having sliced an entire cake or pie.
A petite size cake, pie, bun, mini size anything, served neatly, and individually.
Another smart thing to consider, is to make up a batch of pie crusts, or mini cakes in the Mason Jar lids, freeze them for a time when you are ready to use them.
They are little, store easily and are just a better use of your time.
Pie Crust Hack For Home Cooks
When making individual pies or tarts in Mason Jar Lids, any pie crust will work.
Make a savory pie crust for individual pub pies, adding herbs, or mustard to the crust.
Equally delicious is a favorite pie crust for fruit tarts, pumpkin or pecan pies, adding nuts in the crust or make it plain.
Using the Lid, as a tart pan, makes it easy for the crust to pop out with a simple lift from the underside of the lid, just like you would do with a removable bottom pie pan.
Mason Jar Lid Kitchen Hack – Cakes
Every favorite cake you might make, bakes fast and beautifully in the Mason Jar Lids.
About one third of a cup of batter is all that is needed to make a lovely mini cake to be served as individual servings, and looks way better than a cupcake!
One batch of cake batter will make about 24 mini cakes in the Mason Jar Lids. Freeze some for later!
Mason Jar Lid Kitchen Hack – Bread Buns
Bread buns are perfectly sized when made in Ball Mason Jar Lids. Perfect sandwich rolls, perfect slider buns, even perfectly shaped biscuits!
These beautiful homemade herb rolls made exactly one dozen rolls with my Homemade Bread Recipe.
After the first rise, simply cut into 12 slices, press into the lids and bake. Beautifully shaped and quickly baked in 18 minutes!
Mason Jar Lids Kitchen Hack Holiday Gifts Giving
When the holidays roll around and you are looking for a fun, practical and meaningful gift to give, I have the perfect solution!
Put together fun gift boxes for all those you will be sending parcels to.
Put one box of 12 lids, into the package.
Print out a recipe that can be easily made in the lids or even better, put one of my Muffin Madness cookbooks in the bag. Most of the recipes can easily be baked in the lids.
Put a few of the ingredients into the gift bag and you’ve got a thoughtful, affordable and fun gift for so many on your list!
I don’t know about you but when I was a kid, I always liked the gifts I could play with, more than the ones I could wear, and for me… this is like that, but for an adult!
Frozen Desserts Using A Pie Crust Hack
There is always a unique dessert that has a bit of a crust, but lots of other ingredients that are frozen, much like an ice cream pie or cake.
The crust for these special treats is made from nuts and dates and pressed into the tins, then each layer goes on top, freezes for a bit and then the next.
Two in particular that are easy, health and oh so Vegan:
- No-Bake Avocado Berry Vegan Cheesecake – with blackberries or blueberries, date and nut crust, sweetened with honey or agave, beautifully layered vegan dessert.
- Vegan Frozen Strawberry Dessert – for those of us in want of healthy fruits and nuts, a hint of sweetness, frozen into a creamy vegan strawberry pie!
Pie Crust Hack For Home Cooks
Equipment
- 12 Mason Jar Lids
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp Butter cold
- 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour more for dusting
- 1/2 cup Crushed nuts or oats optional
- 1 tbsp Sugar for sweet pies
- 1/4 tsp Salt more for savory pies
- 1 Egg
- 2-4 tbsp Cold water
- 1 tbsp Mustard for savory only *see notes
Instructions
- With a fork, or in a food processor, incorporate the butter into flour until mixture becomes like coarse meal.Add crushed nuts and sugar for sweet pies, salt and mix.Whisk in the egg and 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the dough comes together. For a savory pie, less water will be needed as the mustard adds moisture to the dough. Dough should not be sticky nor dry. Balance water and flour to achieve this.
- For a savory crust – Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Roll thinner than you ordinarily would a pie crust, about 1/8 inch thick.Press circles of dough with a cup the diameter of the sides and bottom of the lid, about 4 inches (if using Mason jar wide-mouth lids), and press the rounds into the lid.Crimp the edges and the crust is ready to fill and bake, or freeze in an airtight container.
- For a sweet crust – Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Rather than roll this dough, it is easily pressed and formed into the lids. Crimp the edges and the crust is ready to fill and bake, or freeze in an airtight container.
- Baking time will vary, depending on the filling. However, since the tart tins don't hold a large amount of filling, the baking time averages around 15-minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.