Recipes (Healthy Dessert): Healthy 4th of July Mini Pies!

Happy 4th of July, everybody!  I am about to head out to celebrate, but, before I do, I want to share with you all the dessert I am bringing to my family celebration.  I did a healthy makeover of our country's most loved dessert: pie.  I made them individually in 3 different flavors: blueberry, strawberry, and black cherry.  These are homemade, low in sugar (all of it is natural), and set in a whole wheat crust.  I got the stamp of approval from my guinea pigs (a.k.a. my immediate family), so enjoy!

Ingredients

Pie Crust (for 24 mini crusts):

• 2.5 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup of cold water
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup of yogurt butter (I used Brummel&Brown)
• 1 egg combined with 1 tablespoon of water (for the egg wash)

Pie Filling (for 8 individual fillings-simply triple the ingredients if you want to make a batch of 24):

• 1 cup of fruit 
• strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, cherries, whatever you want!
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of coconut palm sugar
• 2 tablespoons of cane sugar
• 1/4 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• a dash of nutmeg

Tools:

• Cupcake tin/liner
• roller
• cookie cutter/small cup
• mixer
• pastry brush
• nonstick spray

Directions

Pie Crust:

1.  Mix the flour and salt in either a food processor, mixer, etc.
2. Add butter until mixture starts to become one, crumbly texture.  Slowly add water, as needed, until the dough starts to come together (it should just stay together-do not let it become sloshy or too wet).
3. Refrigerate (for 1 hour at least).  Then, roll out with a roller.  Make 24 round cuts (using a cookie cutter or small cup-whatever you have) that place evenly in a cupcake tin (that was previously sprayed with non-stick).  The rest of the dough will be used to top the pies.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Start on the filling.
5. After you have placed a tablespoon of filling into each pie, make 4 small strips of dough (previously cut and rolled out) and use them to cover one pie.  Repeat for the rest of the pies.
6. Combine the egg and tablespoon of water (by beating them).  Use the pastry brush to put the wash on top of the pies.  You will not use all of the mixture.  Just one dip/brushing per pie will do.

 Filling:

1. Wash/cut your fruit (if necessary).  
2. In a small saucepan set at low heat, add your fruit, cornstarch, sugars, and spices. Mix until the contents form a thick and bubbly mixture.  The fruit will be soft but will not disintegrate entirely.
3. Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture, and place it in a pie.

Bake these pies at 375 degrees for a total of 20 minutes (checking on them occasionally).  After cooling, if not served immediately, I would refrigerate the pies to avoid the possibility of spoiling (they should be fine for a day or so, but after all of that work, who would want to risk it?)

Here is the nutritional information for the pies! No matter which pie you choose to eat, it will be under 150 calories and no more than 8 grams of sugar.  I think you could afford guiltless a scoop of ice cream on the side with these(: