Saturday, May 25, 2013

Mini Strawberry Rhubarb Pies.


For the past few weeks, every time I walk into Whole Foods, which is practically every morning for a bagel, I am greeted with a barrel of fresh rhubarb in the middle of a display of berries.
After two weeks of the rhubarbs staring at me, I had to buy some.   They looked so colorful and pretty.  I grabbed a container of strawberries as well and decided to tackle strawberry rhubarb pie. 
The only time I've made this pie was for my good friend Peter. It was a thank you pie for giving me a ride from the fair so I wouldn't be late for work. That was 8 years ago!  
I used three different recipes to make the pie: Smitten Kitchen, Post Punk Kitchen, and I dusted off my America's Test Kitchen cookbook.  I guess four if you count the crust recipe from good old Martha.  Best pie crust recipe I've made.  But then again, put a lot of butter in anything and it's bound to be good.
First things first, make your crust so that you can let it chill in the fridge while you make the filling.  
Then cut the rhubarb into 1 inch pieces and cook them on the stove with 1/4 cup sugar.  Americas Test Kitchen says you want them to release their liquid, but still remain firm.  
Look at that great color..and all the liquid releasing on the bottom left picture.   Let the rhubarb cool and in a bowl mix together the rest of the filling ingredients (written on the bottom) and the cooled rhubarb. 

Looks like a gooey mess.  
Set it aside and bring out your crust dough from the fridge.  I decided to make things complicated and make mini-pies.  Chad's not a fan of desserts, and I can't eat a whole pie by myself, or I shouldn't at least, so I made little ones that I could give away as treats or freeze for another day.  Definitely more time consuming to make mini pies than one big pie.  Making little lattice tops for them got tiring really quickly. 
But it was totally worth it because they turned out pretty cute. 
I think Peter would've really enjoyed them...
And because I will gladly admit I am not Martha 
Stewart, here are some of the not so pretty ones;
poor little guys.  However, their looks did not take 
away from the taste.  They were just as yummy
as their pretty siblings. 
What you'll need for the filling:
1 lb rhubarb
3 cups strawberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tblspn lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tblspn tapioca flour
2 Tblspn all purpose flour



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