These mini pear and cranberry pies are personal sized, and so easy to make! Make them for a party, girls night, 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 pear and 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?)
Reasons you'll ♡ mini pear and cranberry pies
- they come together quickly
- they're great finger food for a party
- no sharing needed 😉
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, 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
The 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 cinnamon. Spoon into the pie crust 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 this recipe- 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.
Recipe tips
- some of the pie 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
- Feel free to swap the pears for apples. Frozen fruit may also work but has not been tested
- Store in the fridge for up to 4 days
More desserts for you
- Fudgy Black Bean Brownies
- Coconut Date Balls
- Make Ahead Apple Crisp
- Chocolate Dessert Hummus
- Simple Baked Apples
Mini Pear and Cranberry Pies with Brown Butter Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 package of store-bought pie crust (2- 9 inch pie crusts, cut into 4 inch rounds)
- 1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
- 3 cups pears (peeled, cored and diced into 1 cm cubes)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Brown Butter Glaze
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar (187 g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons milk (or more if you want a thinner consistency)
Instructions
Pear + Cranberry Pies
- Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
- Roll out the pie crust and cut out 4-inch rounds. Keep rolling it out and cutting out rounds until you get 18 circles.
- Gently press circles into a muffin tray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the cranberries, pear cubes, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spoon into the pie crusts (don't over-fill!).
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until pie crusts are lightly golden.
- Let pies cool for 5-10 minutes in the trays, then using a knife, gently pop them out of the muffin trays, and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Brown Butter Glaze
- In a small saucepan, heat the butter. Cook it, stirring frequently, until the solids separate and begin to brown. It should smell nutty...do not burn!
- Once butter is browned, immediately transfer to a medium bowl containing the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.
- Beat until smooth and completely combined.
- Transfer glaze to a ziplock bag, snip the corner, and drizzle over the mini-pies.
