Baking season is upon us, and since I get lots of questions about my pies, I figured I would share my tried and true tips and tricks (try saying that 5 times fast) 😳 on baking pies. All of these tips apply to making mini pies in a muffin tin. A few of these tips will also apply to making 9″ pies. I will call them out. This was my third time making mini pies from a muffin tin, and each time I have gotten better. They (not sure who THEY are) say practice makes perfect. I would have to agree. This was my first attempt at fall inspired mini pies and I absolutely love how they turned out! Tip 1: I always spray the entire muffin tin (cavities and outside) before adding the pie crust. I personally like Baker’s Joy brand of baking spray. Tip 2: I don’t use cupcake liners or parchment paper, but I did see THIS trick on Pinterest where someone cut strips of parchment paper to use as handles to remove the mini pies and THIS trick with foil. They both seem like good ideas, but I personally have not tried either. I still recommend cutting around each pie with a knife to ensure they come out in one piece even if you try either of these techniques. Tip 3: Lots of pie cutters! I have been purchasing pie crust cutters for years and now have a pretty large collection. I have purchased them from Williams Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, & Amazon. If you are looking on Amazon you can type “Fondant Cutters” or “Pie Crust Cutters” into the search menu and tons will pop up. I also provided the direct links to my favorite pie cutters. For the pie cutter that are no longer available I linked identical sets. The fall pie cutters I used for these mini pies are no longer available, but THESE from Williams Sonoma are identical to the ones I bought from there last year. Bonus you get a turkey with this set! I might need to buy these too. 🤔 I also found THESE leaf pie cutters that are very similar to the ones I have. For Halloween, I found THESE on Amazon. I just got them, so haven’t used them yet, but definitely plan to very soon. The Christmas pie cutters I have are no longer available at Williams Sonoma, but I did find replicas of them HERE and HERE. Side note, do you see a theme here? Williams Sonoma makes THE BEST pie cutters, which is why I always buy them from there. They are great quality and the design possibilities are endless! Below is a picture of my Christmas mini pies I did last year. I definitely plan to make them again this year. For Spring, I love THESE floral pie cutters from Williams Sonoma. You might remember my Spring inspired mini pies that I made using the floral pie cutters. Williams Sonoma also has THESE fruit pie cutters. I think I need to add them to my ever-expanding collection. What do you think? Tip 4: I always top my pie crusts with an egg wash then sprinkle coarse sugar in the raw on the tops. Whisk one egg and use a pastry brush to brush the egg wash onto the top crusts. It is so yummy! I get lots of compliments on the crust because of doing this. For me that’s a good way to take store-bought pie crust to the next level. Tip 5: Cover the entire muffin tin with foil. Spray the side that will touch the pies with baking spray to prevent the top crust from sticking to the foil. Just in case you are wondering, as I started to put the foil over the muffin tin, I realized I hadn’t done the egg wash and sugar topping. I got a little over zealous while trying to make sure I took a picture of the sprayed foil. Tip 6: Place the muffin tin on a cookie sheet to prevent any dripping onto the bottom of the oven. Because burnt pie crust that is stuck on the bottom of the oven is not fun to cleanup. Been there, done that, wrote the book. 😭 Tip 7: Bake the mini pies on 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet, then bake for another 15 minutes (still covered). Remove the foil, rotate the cookie sheet again, and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the top crust is a golden brown. Tip 8: To loosen the pies, I wait until they are completely cooled. It usually takes a couple of hours. For these mini pies specifically I didn’t cut them out until the next day. They were a lot easier to remove. But if you don’t have that kind of time, wait until they are completely cooled. Once the pies are cooled, I carefully use a sharp knife (think pairing knife) to cut around each pie. Carefully is the key word here. This takes patience. You definitely want to take your time to not cut into the pies, especially after you spent all that time designing them. For the filling, I used my simple apple pie recipe that was featured on Crate & Barrels Blog. CLICK HERE for the recipe. And that’s a wrap! Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope this post helps you in your future baking adventures. I absolutely love to bake and if sharing my tips and tricks with you helps you in any way, then this post was completely worth it. If you have any questions please comment below or DM me on Instagram. My handle is @acarriedaffairdesigns Until next time, friends. Xo Shop This Post