Mini Triple Berry Pies

Don't let the cute faces fool you. These little mini pies were a bit of a beast to make (admittedly, because at the same time I was making Hot Cross Buns and Cherry Brown Butter Bars). Again, it was my own fault--I was going to make a nice, perfectly easy, perfectly respectable pie but then I darted out of the kitchen with an insane grin on my face and announced to Piper that I was going to make the pies TINY and put LATTICE TOPS over ALL OF THEM! Then Piper had to come crack my back because I had been latticing tiny pie tops for two hours.

But these are cute. And their lattices are tiny. And they did taste good.

As much as I'd like to complain about these little guys, they were rather lovely. I wanted to have a one-two-three punch of raspberry, rhubarb and strawberries, so I kept to the recipe I used for the rhubarb compote and mixed in a bit of the fresh fruit at the end. They're sweet, jam-packed with delicious spring fruit and on top of that they have tiny lattice crusts. What's not to love?

Triple Berry Mini-Pies
(makes about 24)

Filling:
1/2 pound stalks of rhubarb, diagonally sliced
1 pound strawberries, stemmed and sliced
2 pints raspberries
3/4-1 cup brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want things)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon lime zest

Crust (from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker):
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into 16 pieces
2 lg eggs
2 lg egg yolks

For crust: combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the butter and pulse about 20 times to finely mix in the butter. Add the eggs and the egg yolks and pulse until the dough begins to form a ball. Invert the food processor bowl over a floured work surface to turn out the dough. Carefully remove the blade and transfer any dough on it to the work surface. Form the dough into a disk about 1/2 inches thick. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it.

For filling: Combine about 2/3 of each kind of fruit in a saucepan. Add brown sugar, lime zest and vanilla extract. Cook on a low temperature to allow the fruit to release its liquid. Once liquids begin to release, turn heat to medium-low and cook the rhubarb mixture, covered, for about 15 minutes, or until the mixture is saucy. Remove the cover and increase the heat to medium, cooking an additional 15 to 17 minutes, or until the fruit is completely broken down and thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail at the bottom of the pan. Add remaining rhubarb chunks, strawberries and raspberries to the compote. Allow compote to cool completely before using in the tarts.

Preheat oven to 375. To assemble, roll out the dough on a floured work surface. Using a 4-inch in diameter cup, cut circles in the dough and tuck them into the cups of a greased muffin tin. spoon pie filling into tart cups. Cut 4 3x1/4th-inch strips and arrange them into a lattice pattern (over-under, under-over). Using a spatula, lift the lattice onto the top of the tart and connect the ends to the tart cup, cutting off the excess bits of the strips. If you want, you can also cut out a little teensy leaf to decorate the top of the tart--though this might work better with a larger  pie.

Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes, until crust is golden-brown. Allow tarts to cool completely, then top with an extra piece of fruit and/or powdered sugar.

Enjoy!