Pie Pops

Pie pops – a whimsical twist on a regular pie.
They are tiny, they are cute, and they taste just like a bite of a nice pie.
I love desserts like these.
Inspired by a lovely lady called Bakerella, I knew I needed to get these pies into my life as soon as possible.
Some things just need to be done immediately.
To make my version of pie pops I decided to go with the recipe that I use to make my Mini Apple Pies. Only, I have made the crust a little more sweet and I finally decided to replace the apple filling with jam.
To make your own version, you can sure use any filling you really like. What I recommend is for the filling to be on the denser and sweeter side. It should be dense because it will leak less and it should be really sweet because you can only use a little for one pop.
Here’s my version of the pie pops, step-by-step-by-step-by-step… by step:

This is what we need.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar (5 tablespoons) in the bowl of your electric mixer. First, stir with a spoon to combine, then  add the butter (cubed) and mix until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. Pour in 1/4 cup (60 ml) water in a slow, steady stream until the dough holds together when pinched. If necessary, pour more water.
Mix for only about 30 seconds.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about twenty minutes before using.
But… oh, wait… I forgot something!
  

Aah, now everything is alright.
  

5. Then place the dough on floured surface and roll it out into about 0.1-0.2 inch (3-5 mm) thickness.
I liked them better when they were a little more thin.
  

6. Now grab a cookie cutter. This one is 2.5 inch (6 cm) in diameter.
Dip the cutter in flour.

7. Cut out circles.
  

8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
9. Place the dough circle onto the sheet.
10. Press down a lollipop stick (or a wooden skewer) in the dough. Pinch the dough a little to cover the stick.

First I thought I’d only use apple filling for my pie pops, but this filling turned out to be not enough. You cannot get much filling into the pops, that’s why I needed something more flavor-intense.
Jam!
  

10. So I filled some pops with jam , and some with the jam-apple combination.
I like them both.

11. Place another circle on top of the filling and press the edges with your fingers.
  

12. Seal and decorate the edges with a short piece of a lollipop stick (or a wooden skewer).

Using a short piece of lollipop stick helps you not to mess up the neighboring pie pops when you seal the two pieces of dough together.
13. Continue with all dough circles, then re-roll the scraps and cut out some more circles.

14. Mix the egg yolk with the milk and brush the top of each pie pop with this mixture.
15. Using a sharp knife, cut three vents in each pie.
16. Bake in the preheated oven at 350 F (175 C) for about 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown.

Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy!
(This recipe was inspired by Bakeralla.com. Yield: 25-30 pops.)

http://zoomyummy.com/2011/11/23/pie-pops/