The pie-in-a-jar phenomenon has been all over the internet for a couple of years now, but it wasn’t until this week that I was brave enough to try it myself. I’ll be honest, this method is now one of my favorite ways to bake pie! Not only are they made in cute, single-serve portions, but you can easily package your mini-pies to give as gifts or party favors to your friends and family as well.
What You’ll Need:
• Half-pint jars that are short and stout in nature.
• Pie crust (recipe below).
• Pie filling, homemade or store bought.
• Tags and labels (I chose labels in the style of Candystripes).
For this project, I find that most normal pie crusts are difficult to work with. They tend to pull away from the sides of the jars, making them far too fussy. To remedy this situation, I’ve made a crumbly pie crust mixture that can be pressed against the edges of the jar bit by bit. The recipe is as follows:
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
Pour all of the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Remove the lid and blade of your food processor, and spoon some of the mixture into one of your half-pint jars. Using your fingers, press the mixture against the side of the jar, covering as much as you can. Grab more of the mixture, and continue the process until the entire inside of the jar, including the bottom, is covered.
Once all of your jars are pressed with the crumbly crust mixture, spoon your pie filling on top, leaving at least 1/2 inch headspace. Top with a tiny pat of butter.
There are all sorts of methods you can use to top your pies. For my pies, I used both a lattice pie crust, and a crumble topping. To make the crumble pie topping, the recipe is:
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Spoon the crumbly pie topping on top of your pie-in-a-jar, leaving enough room to fit a lid and band. At this point you can either bake your pies in their jars (no lid or band) in a 375°F oven for 45-60 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Or you can secure each of your jars with a lid and band and package them with decorative paper, twine, and tags/labels. They can be stored in the freezer for a month, or you can refrigerate them for up to a week before giving them away as gifts or favors.
Helpful Links
- Jar Labels • I chose the “Candystripes” style in Deep Red.
More Homemade Favor Ideas…
Lindsay is a writer/blogger from Oregon who loves crafting, cooking, gardening, and simple living. You can find her writing about all of this and more on her blog A Wooden Nest.
Lindsay, these are so cute and quite practical too. They will fit nicely in my husbands lunch pack. Thanks!
What an awesome idea! So cute, and very creative of you!
LOVE these, but I’ve got a question…
How far in advance can these be made if I wanted to use them as a wedding favor? And would they just need refrigerated, or do they need frozen?
Nevermind, just saw my answer…hehe
There are super cute, and I’m delighted to find your blog this weekend!!. I am an amateur crust maker and tried the modified crust above to press in to jar. Added 1T cold water to get it crumbly. Had a really hard time rolling the crust to make the toppers…lattice was out of the question. They are in the oven… **squeeeeeeeee**
nice idea thank you
Is there anyway to preserve these pies without refrigeration to be able to ship them to the troops? If so, do you do anything different? Thank you for sharing such a cute idea!
Hey Debi,
Unfortunately, the crust is made using butter, so I doubt the pies would stay very fresh without refrigeration. I’m sorry, but I probably wouldn’t chance it. :-/
Lindsay