Single Serving Blueberry Pies

For the crust:
Set aside 1 cup of water with 3-4 ice cubes in it. Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl (large and wide if you have one). Add in cold butter cubes and work them in with a pastry cutter. Stop when the butter pieces are the size of little peas.

Drizzle about half of the water into the mixture (discarding any leftover ice). Use a rubber spatula to combine (add more water if needed). Once it starts to clump together, use your hands to form a solid ball out of the pieces. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and wrap each one separately in plastic wrap (flatten them out a bit so they resemble disks). Make sure that you don’t work the dough too much—this will make sure the butter doesn’t get warm. Refrigerate the dough packs for 1-2 hours (2 is better).

For the filling:
Combine blueberries, lemon zest, juice, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla into a large bowl and mix well. Let the fruit mixture sit while you preheat the oven and roll out the dough (at least 5-10 minutes).

For the assembly:
Set out 8 (wide and flat) mason jars onto a rimmed cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper. Keep the lids off to the side. I used 8 of the 16 ounce size jars and filled them about 2/3 of the way full, so the lids were easy to get on. Or you could use 10 to 12 of the 8 ounce jars, filled to the top.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Once the dough has been chilled, remove one of the dough packs from the fridge onto a clean, generously floured work surface. Roll the dough out until about 1/8″ thick.

Using a mason jar lid, cut 8 circles from the dough and line the bottom of each jar with a dough circle.

Use the remainder of the first dough pack and into the second, to build the dough up onto the sides of the jars. You can just pull pieces off and press them tightly against the sides of the jars or I found it really useful to cut the pieces into squares first. Keep the sides thin, to make sure you have enough dough left for the tops. Once all the jars are lined with dough, divide the fruit mixture evenly among the jars.

Use the remainder of the dough for the tops, however you like (I used mini star cookie cutters and laid the stars over the filling). Top each pie with a little sprinkle of coarse sugar (or regular granulated works too).

Bake the pies (on the cookie sheet) for 40-45 minutes (or until the filling is bubbly and the crust starts to turn golden). Remove pan with the jars on it to a rack. Allow to cool for at least 10-20 minutes before handling (jars will be extremely hot, use caution when moving them). If keeping the pies for later, wait until they are room temperature to put the lids on and store in the refrigerator until ready.

To re-heat refrigerated pies:
-Remove jars from the fridge and leave them out at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
-Preheat oven to 350 F.
-Place jar(s) on baking sheet lined with parchment and bake them for 20-25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly (again, allowing them to cool for 10-20 minutes or until cool enough to handle before serving).

Notes:
– I used 8 of the 16 ounce size jars and filled them about 2/3 of the way full, so the lids were easy to get on. Or you could use 10 to 12 of the 8 ounce jars, filled to the top.
– If you can, I highly recommend buying the blueberries in bulk (at a farmer’s market or a Costco/Sam’s Club). It’s very cost-effective.
– Alternatively, you can store the pies before you bake them: Seal each jar with its lid once they are assembled and store in the refrigerator for a few days (or in the freezer for up to a few weeks). Follow reheating instructions above.