The Mini Pie Revolution Event #3: Pot Pies

The Mini Pie Revolution is taking a break from sugar and we want to see your very best pot pies in single serving form!

Wikipedia says that a pot pie has a bottom and a top crust, but we disagree. We believe that a pot pie only needs a crust on the top to qualify, though we certainly do approve of crust on the bottom, too!

With meat or without meat, vegan or not, we just want to be inspired by your version of a comforting home-cooked pot pie.

Naturally we don't expect you to make them mini-muffin tin sized-- this isn't dessert after all, it's lunch or dinner! We think a single serving pot pie is about the size of a jumbo muffin cup, a small tart pan, or a ramekin.

To enter:

Bake your mini pot pies from scratch (they must be single-serving). Remember they need a crust on top (biscuits are just fine!)

Photograph your mini pot pies and post about them on your blog, including a link back to this event announcement, before midnight EST, March 26. Then email Ann (at redactedrecipes@gmail.com) the following:

1) A 150 X 150 mini pot pie portrait
2) Brief description of your mini pie (just the name of the recipe and a one-liner about why it's special is fine)
3) The title of your blog and a link to your blog
4) A link to your mini pot pie entry
5) A link back to this event announcement
6) Make sure your e-mail's subject head is "The Mini Pie Revolution." Please send us your
entry by Midnight EST on March 26, and we will post the results on March 28.

Feel free to use the logo at the top of this post, or this smaller version.

This is a single-serving and and single entry event, so please don't recycle your posts for other events!

Thank you to Andrew of Spittoon Extra and The Daring Bakers for helping to get the word out!

Note: during the last event a lot of our mini pie bakers neglected to email us. We found a lot of posts through technorati, but very likely missed some, so please, please, please do send us the requested information!

Events of Note

Here are some food blog events featuring our favorite... PIE! Please follow the links and consider entering one of these events with a mini pie!

Kitchen Parade is hosting Pi Day! Recipes For Homemade Pie with submissions due anytime between March 10th and 14th. We approve of any pie-related events and suggest you make 3.14 tiny pies to spread the word about the Mini Pie Revolution!



The next Sugar High Friday is being hosted by Vampituity and is also all about pie. Entries are due February 22nd. Another great opportunity to get more mini pies out there!

Mini Pie Revolution #2: Small Tarts Have Big Hearts!

When we think “Valentine’s Day,” our minds jump to Sweet Tarts, those awful heart-shaped chalks with their cutesy messages: “call me,” and “be mine.”

Well, here at the Mini Pie Revolution HQ, we know that Valentine’s Day requires tarts of a different kind. Grandmothers everywhere would not lie – the stomach leads to the heart, and nothing inspires love like a filled pastry crust. For Valentine's Day, we want to see your sweetest tarts!

“But what are tarts?” you ask. “What’s the difference between tarts and pie?”

Tarts, being sexy little things, like to go topless. Some tarts leave a little more to the imagination with strategically placed whipped cream or garnishes. No tart likes complete coverage!

As per the Mini Pie Revolution’s definition, mini tarts should be baked in mini-cupcake or mini-muffin tins, but you can use tartlette pans, too. A mini tart should be a single one or two-bite serving, but we’re not size-ists here at The Mini Pie Revolution HQ – we're not going to pull out tape measures!

Tips and fun facts:

You can find crust recipes and "cheats" in our sidebar, along with other helpful information. Check out the round-up of our last event to see just how adorable a mini tart (or pie) can be!

The smell of lavender and pumpkin pie is said to increase male arousal (from the, erm, baseline state) by 40%.

For women the most arousing scent is Good and Plenty candies and cucumber, with pumpkin pie coming in third, behind baby powder. (We at the Mini Pie Revolution HQ do not condone experimenting with baby powder in pies. Do what you will with the Good and Plenty and the cucumber.)

To enter:

Bake your mini tarts from scratch (they must be mini-sized). We want sweet tarts this time (as arousing as Rocky Mountain oysters are supposed to be, we don't want to see them in pie. Or anywhere, really).

Photograph your mini tarts and post about them on your blog, including a link back to this event announcement, before February 12. Feel free to use the logo in our sidebar, too, if you like. Then email Ann (at redactedrecipes@gmail.com) or Karyn (at Kosmicfish27ATaolDOTcom) the following:

• A 100 X 100 mini tart portrait


• Brief description of your mini tart (just the name of the recipe and a one-liner about why it's special is fine)


• The title of your blog and a link to your blog
  
• A link to your mini pie entry
  
• Make sure your e-mail's subject head is "The Mini Pie Revolution" Please send us your entry by Midnight EST on February 12, and we will post the results on Valentine's Day.

Note: during the last event a lot of our mini pie bakers neglected to email us. We found a lot of posts through technorati, but very likely missed some, so please, please, please do send us the requested information!

Thanks to Andrew of Spitoon Extra for making sure this event is listed at Is My Blog Burning?

The Mini Pie Revolution Round-Up!

What a great way to start the New Year! When we decided to host our very first blog event, we were nervous. You know how it is... what if we throw a party and nobody comes?!

But you did come to our party, and you brought fabulous, adorable, creative, and scrumptious mini pies with you! Viva la revolution!

Entries were added to this round-up as they arrived (via email or as we found them via technorati), so please don't read anything into your place on the list. Check out the entries, then learn which mini pie won the judges' hearts, minds, and stomachs.

Our first entry comes from Sara at Cupcake Muffin, who combined two classic flavor-parings and whipped up these adorable little Apple-Pear-Rum Raisin Mini Pies with Crumb Topping. Fabulous!


CakeLaw from Laws of the Kitchen made these luscious little fruit-packed Blackberry-Apple Pies. Don't you just know they're going to explode with blackberry flavor at first bite?

Redacted Recipes is not eligible for a prize, of course, but Ann offered up these tiny Christmas Mince Pies in the name of The Revolution.

Gretchen from Canela and Comino ruminates on the sneaky seductiveness of the tiny pie and offers up a delectable batch of Peanut Butter Fudge Cups. How seductive can you get?!

The fabulous Zenchef of Chefs Gone Wild sent us these gorgeous Macau Egg Custard Tarts. Well, he sent us a link. Ann felt he should have have hand-delivered a few of them personally, seeing as how they're in the same city. :-)

Suganya over at Tasty Palettes went for a savory pie with a healthy low-fat crust and created these beautiful Cornmeal Crusted Tomato Tarts. While not exactly single-bite-sized, these lovely four-inch tarts can be held in the hand.

Glorious Food and Wine put together these lovely little Mini Mince Pies, using star-shaped cookie cutters to shape the crusts. Adorable, no?

Carla from But did they eat it? created super-healthy Mini Chocolate Pies, featuring avocado and tofu. And in answer to her own question, (did they eat it?) she reports that yes, they did!

Adele of Tales of The Basil Queen took time out from studying law to create a savory new recipe with these wonderful Chicken, Fig and Mushroom Pies. They look like just the thing for dinner!

Katy of Sugarlaws dreamed up these fabulous-looking Peppermint Tarts with Pomegranate Glaze, using crushed candy canes dissolved in yogurt. She brilliantly added a sprinkling of crushed salted pistachios over the pies' tops.

Mince Pies are popular this time of year and we received another splendid batch from Joy, at Almanzo's Belly. Joy took the time to make her own filling and provides the recipe and some step-by-step instructions with photos.

Cara of Cara's Cravings made these yummy little Sweet Potato Mini Pies, topped with a walnut streusel, which she took to an office potluck. Lucky coworkers!

The CookMobile sent in these lovely Mini Egg Pies along with an innovative tip for using a tortilla-maker to flatten the dough (avoiding over-manipulating it into a too-tough crust). Clever!

Sarah, of Sweets by Sarah, finds that mini pies solve the dilemma of really wanting a single piece of pie without having to deal the left-overs. You make mini pies, eat one, and share the rest with friends! Her Triple Berry Mini Pies look like summer. It's nice to know that warm weather exists somewhere!

Fragole & Cioccolato contributed to la rivoluzione in two languages with these Mince Pies All’Arancia (Orange Mince Pies). Adding orange zest and juice to the pastry, and marmalade and Grand Marnier to the mince filling, gives these pretty pies distinction.

Sarah from What Smells So Good? submits "Mincemeat Tarts with Flair", a new-age twist on an old English "favourite"!

The artistic Ronell of My French Kitchen made these mouth-watering Turkey and Fois Gras Mini Pies using puff pastry to enclose the rich filling. Mmmmm...

Ben of Heights Eats offers up Mini Mud Pies with Bruleed Bananas with Cocoa-Almond Granola crusts. How much more tempting can you get?

Vegan cupcakes take over the world? Not this month! Dayna of Seitan Said Dance baked beautiful Mini Cranberry Apple Crumb Pies. Danya claims these pies as her first original recipe. I say, expect great things from Dayna!

Chris of Melle Cotte whipped up gorgeous Egg Nog Mini Cream Pies by layering a vanilla–eggnog pudding with whipped cream. Can we have rum or brandy on the side?

Ladies, hold onto your Derby hats! Karyn of Hot Potato's not up for the prize, but she doesn't mind not making it to the winner's circle. Her rich chocolate-and-walnut Didn't-Make-it-to-The-Derby Mini Pies provide their own better-than-roses reward.

At Baking History, Manuela made nutmeg-spiced Mini Custard Pies. I certainly think she "baked" history - these mini pies are sure to become a holiday tradition for many a blog-reading baker!

Chef Patti Anastasia, of Anastasia's Table, made these delectable-looking Lemon Meringue Mini Pies. She used foil muffin cups as her pie forms, knowing that she could just cut the foil away if she had any trouble removing the pies later. Smart!

Pie Architect agrees with us that "smaller is better" and redesigned her grandmother's Chocolate Pie in miniature, building up delicious-looking layers of flakey crust, chocolate and whipped cream. Yum.

nicisme at cherrapeño posted a photo of these lovely-looking Mince Pies at the eleventh hour and promises us the recipe soon.

Choosing a winner was NOT easy. We debated long and hard, and realized that it would have been a lot easier if we had narrowed the field to a theme (now we know!). As it was, there are so many appealing entries of so many types that we decided to go with a combination of subjective criteria and random selection.

Our methodology? Each Revolutionary Leader picked three finalists based on: 1) Originality, 2) Good Looks, 3) How Badly The Judge Wanted to Eat It.

The finalists were:

Ben's Mini Mud Pies, Cara's Sweet Potato Pies, Manuela's Mini Custard Pies, Ronell's Turkey and Fois Gras Mini Pies, and Suganya's Cornmeal Crusted Tomato Tarts.

Yes, you only see five pies on the list, because both Ann and Karyn selected Ben's Mini Mud Pies.

We were going to toss the six finalists into a hat and pick one out randomly, but given that Ben was selected by both of us, we think he deserves the prize. So send us an email with your address, Ben, and we'll be sending you these lovely tartlette pans!

Thanks everyone for joining the revolution and stay tuned for our Valentine's Day event Small Tarts Have Big Hearts!

Preheat Your Ovens - It's The Mini Pie Revolution

Maybe you've always preferred pie to cake. Maybe you like tiny things. Maybe you feel, in your gut, that the cupcake's so last year. Well now it's time to preheat your ovens, fill your cupcake tins with mini pies, and aim your cameras at the delicious results. If you're not with us, you don't get any mini pie.

Your Mission

Bake a mini pie from scratch. Mini pies should be baked in a cupcake or muffin tins, but we'll let you get away with other pans if the resulting pies remain miniature. Just how small are mini pies? Aim for mini cupcake or cupcake-sized pies. No mini pie should serve more than one person. Still, we're no size-ists here at The Mini Pie Revolution HQ. We're not going to pull out tape measures.

We prefer that you use legal ingredients, as clever as "pot" pies might sound. So no endangered animals or mind-enhacing drugs, people! Your mini pies can be sweet or savory, single-crusted, double-crusted, open-faced, baby-faced or ugly-faced. We only ask that the pie has some sort of crust (pastry pie dough, as in apple pie) or other topping (mashed potatoes on shepherd's pie, cornbread crust on Mexican pot pie, etc.). No completely naked pies, as that is indecent and illegal we'd have to call the pie authorities.

Really, the sky's the mini pie limit. Have you always wanted to make sushi pie? Here's your chance! Eggplant custard pies? We won't say "no." Do you want to miniaturize your favorite tried-and-true gooseberry pie recipe? Go ahead! Simply put, your mini pie can be anything and everything you want to bake.

The Strategem

Create your mini pies. Photograph your mini pies. Write about your mini pies on your blog. Include a link back to this event announcement. Then:

E-mail Ann (at redactedrecipes@gmail.com) or Karyn (at Kosmicfish27ATaolDOTcom) the following:

1) A 100 X 100 mini pie portrait
2) Brief description of your mini pie (just the name of the recipe is fine)
3) The title of your blog and a link to your blog
4) A link to your mini pie entry
5) Make sure your e-mail's subject head is "The Mini Pie Revolution"

Please send us your entry by Midnight EST on December 25, and we will post the results by January 1, 2008. Let's make 2008 the year of mini pies! The winning mini pie baker will be chosen by Ann and Karyn and will receive a fabulous prize. So get baking!

Feel free to use the Mini Pie Revolution Logo in our sidebar on your post or on your blog.