Mini Cranberry Pies

These mini cranberry pies are personal sized, and so easy to make! Make them for a party, holiday, or for a fun treat...and don't skip the brown butter glaze.

Mini food is fun, and I love that it means I don't have to share. We love these lemon meringue pie bites for the summer, these mini pumpkin greek yogurt cheesecakes for the fall, and these mini cranberry pies are just perfect for winter!

With a delicious pear and cranberry pie filling, and the most insanely delicious brown butter glaze, these wintery mini pies are going to disappear quickly!

They also happen to be incredibly simple to prep, especially if you use store bought pie crust (shh! our little secret, OK?)

Shortcut

If you need to get these mini pies made quickly, you are welcome to use store bought pie crusts. Simply roll them out, then cut into 4-inch rounds. Ball up the scraps, roll out with a rolling pin on a dusting of all purpose flour, and cut more 4 inch rounds. You should get 18 mini pie crusts from a package of two pie crusts. Press the 4-inch rounds into 2 muffin tins

Cranberry Filling

This pie filling is so simple, and there is no need to cook anything! Peel and chop 3 pears and toss with 1 cup of fresh cranberries, some brown sugar and ground cinnamon. Spoon into the pie dough and it will all cook through in the oven. Easy peasy!

• Pears- Anjou or Bartlett pears both work well in this recipe
• Cranberries- you may use fresh or frozen cranberries for the cranberry mixture- no need to bother thawing the frozen cranberries! I do not recommend swapping dried cranberries in as you will be missing the juicy tart flavor you get from fresh cranberries.

The glaze

The final touch to these delicious mini pies is the brown butter glaze. To brown your butter, you will simply sautee the butter, cooking and stirring for several minutes until the milk solids separate as small bits, then toast and turn brown. This adds the most amazing nutty flavor to your butter and goes so well with the pears and cranberries!

For step by step photos showing how to brown butter, read this post!

Important- do not leave your butter unattended while browning. You must pay careful attention to catch it at the browning stage and not at the burning stage.

tips

• Some filling may leak out of the pie crusts and make it difficult to pop the pies out of the muffin tins. If this happens, pop them back into the oven for 1 minute, then loosen with a knife.
• Keep a careful eye on the brown butter so you don't burn it.
• Allow pies to cool before glazing so it doesn't melt. Top with a sprinkle of sea salt before serving to get that sweet, salty, fruity flavor combination.
• Feel free to swap the pears for apples.
• Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Variations

• Instead of using a muffin tin you can use mini deep-dish tart pans if you prefer a more polished look.
• Mix one- two tablespoons orange juice and fresh orange zest for a nice cranberry orange flavor.
• If you want to skip the glaze you can serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• If you want to purchase additional pie crust you can always create a lattice top for an impressive dessert that is perfect for Christmas and other holidays!

More desserts for you

• Fudgy Black Bean Brownies
• Coconut Date Balls
• Make Ahead Apple Crisp
• Chocolate Dessert Hummus
• Simple Baked Apples
• Avocado Brownies