Red Velvet “Cup” Pies

Y3, Week Three: Abandonment Pie

I’m sorry, I’ve been a terrible pie blogger. No, I haven’t abandoned you, life (and my actual paying job) has just been crazy busy the last month. I have actually been baking, I just haven’t had time to give writing up the recipes and pics justice. I need one more of me…

The up side is you’re going to get a bunch of recipes this week! Yay! Yeah, I’m still a terrible blogger, but the recipe was a huge hit, so don’t blame it for the delay. I’ve already neglected it enough. Enjoy and see you soon!

RED VELVET CUP-PIES

Yield: About 12 pies

Chocolate Pie Pastry

1 cup sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup very cold water, approx (can substitute 1/2 of the water with cold vodka)

Mix flour, cocoa sugar, and salt with a pastry cutter or in food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter butter over dry ingredients and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, 10 to 15 seconds. Sprinkle water slowly over the top of the flour mixture while pulsing mixer. Use only enough water to make the dough stick together when a small amount is squeezed in your hand; be careful not to over mix. Dough will be slightly crumbly. Gently shape dough into disc (without kneading) and wrap tightly in plastic, and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Prepare pie shells

flour
1 round cookie cutter (I used a 3 1/2″ diameter cutter, I wouldn’t recommend any smaller, but you can go larger.)
rolling-pin
cupcake/muffin baking pans
paper cupcake liners

Remove dough from the refrigerator 30 minutes before rolling out (less time if your kitchen is very warm).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of dough until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Carefully cut out as many circles of dough as you can with the cutter. Gently place dough circles into paper lined cupcake pan. Gather leftover scraps into a ball and repeat process one or two more times.

Prick the bottoms of the uncooked shells once with a fork, then fill with pie weights and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool for about 30 minutes until you can safely remove the pie weights. When fully cooled, wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate if not using immediately.

Red Velvet Filling

1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups whole milk or half and half
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
red food coloring

Combine cocoa, sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Gradually blend in milk, whisking until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until filling comes to a boil. Boil filling for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; blend in butter, and vanilla. Stir in food coloring until desired color is achieved. If you are using the cheap, grocery store stuff, you will have to use about half a bottle to get it reddish. I recommend picking up some of the higher quality gel or paste colorings (at specialty baking stores) if you want RED pies. Cover and set aside until needed.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

From Gingerbread Bagels “Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes”

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
6 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl of stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix the heavy whipping cream on high-speed until stiff peaks form. Put the whipped cream in another bowl and set aside.

In the same bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add in the powdered sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed for about 4 minutes until smooth.

Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and gently fold it in to loosen it up. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream. Keep in the refrigerator until needed.

Assembly

Everything you’ve prepared so far
piping bag with tips (optional)

Fill baked pie shells to slightly mounded with red velvet pie filling. Carefully press plastic wrap directly onto filling; cool. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. Pipe or spoon on the whipped cream cheese frosting, serve cold.