Mini Lemon Pies

I love cooking.. I love baking.. I love lemon. My hubby isn't much of a sweets eater, but he does have a weakness for lemon pies.. you know the ones.. the snack size lemon pies. So I'm now on a quest to make the perfect snack size lemon pies to pack in his lunch!

So this is my take on those little prepackaged store bought lemon snack pies.=) just tastier.

I would recommend making the crust first so you can get it nice and cold while making the pie filling. I personally think that a mix of shortening and butter makes the perfect crust.I cut my butter up into small pieces and freeze it the day before I make a pie crust. I use this same recipe/method for savory crusts too,I just omit the sugar.

ok.. so.. the ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour.

1 teaspoon salt.

2 Tablespoons sugar.

3/4 cup (a stick and a half) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4 inch cubes.

1/2 cup of all-vegetable shortening

6-8 Tablespoons ice water.

I spoon my shortening into a measuring cup of water, no need to worry about pockets of air (and much easier to clean up!) just be mindful to minimize the amount of water that clings to your shortening

Add in the fats (shortening and butter).

Cut these together (I use a pastry cutter, but you could pulse it in a food processor) until the mixture is like a coarse corn meal with no lumps bigger than peas.

just until the dough starts to come together.. if u pinch it between your fingers and it holds..its good. you don't want this to be completely mixed. use your hand to gather it into a ball..wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. You should see lumps of butter in the mix, this is what makes your dough flakey!

Filling ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh from 2 - 3 lemons)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tsp lemon extract

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt together. Add egg yolks, then gradually whisk in the water.

Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat,stirring constantly, until thickened. (this took about 10 minutes)

remove from heat and swirl in the butter. Set this aside to cool.

I used a muffin tin to cook these, I cut the bottom crust with a mason jar lid, and the top crust with a lid to a plastic container. You can use anything you have in your kitchen, just test the size first.

Put your bottom crusts in the muffin tin , and spoon in filling. Be careful not to get filling on the edges of the crust or they will not seal properly.Cover with top crust and crimp the edges tightly (i cant emphasize this strongly enough- if you don't have a good seal your filling will bubble out) Make sure to cut slits in the tops of each pie.

Bake at 325 until the crust is a happy golden brown.. mmmmmm.

As always if you like this instructable please give me a vote!