Mixed Berry Mini Pies

So I posted this picture on Instagram today and I had a ton of recipe requests. So, I figured I might as well do a quick write up and share one of my absolute favorite recipes.

I got these awesome little pie tins from Williams Sonoma, you can find them here, or here. Ever since their maiden voyage mini pies have been Zack's first choice for desserts. Normally, I hesitate because pie crust. Don't get me wrong, I love love love homemade pie crust, and when time permits I prefer to make it. But, when you want an amazing treat in less than 4 hours, store bought pie crust is a heaven send! It's actually delicious and so easy to use. (Zack might like it better than my homemade.) You can find it in the refrigerator section near the cookie dough. It will look like this.

In case you want to do it the old fashion way I'll include my pie crust recipe as well!

Crust
1 1/4 Cup   AP Flour
1 1/2 Tbsp  Sugar
1/2  tsp       Salt
1/2 Cup      Butter (Cold, like almost frozen)
4-6 Tbsp     Ice Water

Filling (Inspired by Martha)
16-20 oz     Your favorite berries
1/4 Cup      Sugar
1 1/2 TB     Cornstarch
Juice of 1    Lemon

Topping (Inspired by this)
1/2 Cup     AP Flour
1/2 Cup     Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp      Cinnamon
5 Tbsp      Butter (Cold, like almost frozen)

The lifesaver with pie crust and the topping is a KitchenAid or Food Processor. In culinary school we cut the butter into the flour by hand, but honestly.. ain't NOBODY got time for that.

Crust
Make sure your butter is really cold, then cut it into little cubes and throw it in with the dry ingredients. Mix on Medium to High until tiny clumps appear, about the size of peas. While it's mixing fill a cup with ice and then pour water over the ice. Once the butter/flour mixture is ready, (if you're using the food processor remove the blade) add the ice water one tablespoon at a time and mix with your hands. When you get to around 4 TB (depending on the humidity in the room) the dough should start to stick together so you can form a ball in your hand. Its important not to add too much water. Form the dough into a disk shape and refrigerate for at least an hour. Once its rested and cold, roll out to desired thickness and cut out circles for your pans. (Or just make one big pie right?) To measure for the little tins I turn one upside down and cut about 1/4-1/2 inch around the rim. Spray pie tins and make sure you press into the scallops.

Filling
Throw everything in a bowl and mix gently. Scoop into prepared pie tins. There should be enough that it forms something of a mound.

Topping
Cut butter into cubes. Throw into dry ingredients and mix on high until it becomes crumbly yummy looking topping. It will mix longer than the pie crust. Sprinkle on top of berries. (You'll want it to fully cover the filling)

Place the pies on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes. The fruit filling should be bubbling, the topping should be crispy and slightly golden. Allow to cool (or eat it piping hot with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream on top.)

I wish I had more pictures of the process, but I didn't plan on writing about it. I'll take more next time! I hope you get a chance to make these and enjoy these as much as we did!
XOXO
SD

P.S. If you're a pinner, I'd love for you to pin this recipe!

Welcome to Connecticut

We made it.

The journey to get here was nothing short of pandemonium/miraculous, but we made it.  I now have a new, deeper understanding of Murphy's Law. Things I didn't even worry about going wrong, went wrong. Most of the things I can look back on and laugh about now that we are here.

Here's a quick run down of all the chaos and all the miracles.
The keys to our new car disappeared a few days before it was supposed to be picked for shipment. We figured they would turn up eventually before we sent it, but no such luck. Thankfully, I found a valet key so we could still drive it and send it. Zack's passport and entire wallet were both lost within 24 hours of our flight. We literally had to use our car title, check book, and marriage certificate as identification to get him through security. Have you ever heard of anything like that?? It was insane. Because we spent an extra hour searching for his wallet (it had fallen out of his pocket at the movie theater the night before) we arrived at the airport just 45 minutes before our plane was supposed to depart. We made it through check-in and security (where everything we own was searched because Zack didn't have proper identification) in time to not be the last people on the plane. Second to last is better than last right?

After an exhausting morning I was not so excited to wrestle a very rambunctious 18 month old on the plane for 4 1/2 hours. Miraculously, about an hour into the flight, he sprawled out across both Zack and I and slept ever so peacefully for a solid 2 1/2 hours and then happily sat snuggled Dad and watched Despicable Me. It was truly a tender mercy.

Zack's new job had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport to take us to a friends house we'd be staying with the first night. As the driver greeted us he asked how we were doing. I told him it had been quite a rough day. His response, and I quote, "Well it might not be getting any better. There's no way all your stuff is going to fit in my car." Fabulous. Zack happens to be a master at loading cars and I am always amazed at the amount of stuff he can maneuver into a trunk. He was up for the challenge. Miraculously, it all fit (with room to spare.) We didn't even have to bury ourselves in the back seat.

Once we arrived at our friends' house we were starving and decided to take advantage of our time in NYC and grab a slice. After all, pizza may be what I've missed most about living here (just kidding, kind of!) We ran into some friends from church at the pizza place. It was nice to just sort of take our mind off all the crazy and catch up with friends.

Uncle Joe taught Gunner how to play a drum. 

We had several friends planning to meet us at our storage unit to help us load everything into a U-Haul. Unfortunately, we hadn't thought to reserve a truck before hand. Of course, they were all booked up. As we started to weigh some other options (such as just give up) the U-haul worker came out to tell us he had moved some things around and found a truck for us. Hallelujah! Now all we had to do was remember the combination to the lock on our storage unit. Of course, we had no idea, and the paper to remind us was tucked safely into Zack's wallet, which was in the mail on its way to our new place in Connecticut. Zack's brother in law, Scott, had gone to the theater, found the wallet, and overnighted it to us. The only thing missing when he found it was $120 cash (cries). When we couldn't find anything to break the lock, the U-haul people offered to use the bolt cutters.  The six or seven strong guys made quick work of loading the truck and we were on our way to Connecticut in no time. Side note: Zack couldn't drive the truck because he didn't have a drivers license to show the U-Haul people, and therefore he wouldn't be covered if he wrecked it. Thankfully, our dear friend Alberto was willing to drive it up for us.

Our friends, Angel and Ermelin, also drove up with us to help us unpack and get settled. I was so excited to pull into our driveway. We were finally home. The guys started unloading the truck and when I got inside we realized the gas and electric were not turned on. We have never moved into an apartment where these were not turned on. We've always just had to call within a few days to have it switched to our name. But nope. Not here. No power. No gas. We called all of the companies in the area and NO ONE was open on Saturday. We spent the afternoon unpacking; Thankfully, Ermelin is like an organizational guru. We unpacked every box, rolled out all our rugs and made the bed.

We decided to stay with our friends in the Bronx again so we didn't have to live in darkness and take cold showers. The next day was Sunday and Zack and Gunner went to visit our old ward, and I went to Brooklyn to spend the day with Ellen who was sick. It was so great to spend the day with her and Zack and Gunner loved seeing friends. It was great to take our mind off things and it really made us realize that we aren't alone out here. We've had so many friends go out of their way to help us and we couldn't be more thankful. It was really really difficult for us to leave our families in Utah, but I've been overwhelmed by all the friendships and connections we have out here!

We came back up to our place on Sunday because Zack had to be at work on Monday morning. I woke up at 7 am to call the gas and electric companies first thing. We were able to get electric turned on that afternoon, but the gas company couldn't come out until Friday. So we took cold showers for five days and weren't able to cook or use our stove or oven for anything. Luckily we are all set up with gas, electric, and internet. All we are waiting for  is our furniture and boxes from Utah. The moving company made a mistake and now our stuff will be here a whole week later than their estimation. That will be a solid 21 days without most of our clothes, Gunner's crib, most his toys, our couch, table, chairs, dishes, pots and pans, ect. Thankfully we had our mattress, rugs, and few odds and ends in our storage unit out here. Mostly I'm just sick of sitting on the floor or our bed for everything (Nothing like eating dinner in bed.) Gunner has not been a big fan of the cold baths or sitting on the floor. But I really think he loves having his own room. This is the first time in his life he has had his own room. Its a great thing!

Priceline has taken such good care of us to get us here and Zack seems to be thriving at work. Gunner and I have already made some friends! Our new ward at church is great and filled with kids his age (something like 24 kids in nursery). I'm slowly, but surely, getting to know the area and freeways and grocery stores. There are a few parks that we can walk to and an aquarium and kids museum we haven't explored yet. Not to mention we're less than a block from the river so theres a beautiful view just about anywhere we walk.

I've moved a million times and never experienced so much opposition. Have any of you had an experience like this? How did you deal?  Regardless of everything that has happened and all the setbacks, I know that there are good things ahead for us. I'm choosing to believe this is a case of, "Nothing worth having comes easy" or the storm before the calm" (Is that even a thing?) Anyone have other good quotes or scriptures relating? I'm always in need of more inspiration. Please share!! Thinking about the experience as a whole, I can't help but laugh because its unbelievable that we still made it and and somehow we're still standing, and we're still smiling.

I've thought a lot about moving forward with this blog and what I'll focus on. What are your thoughts? I know I don't have the sights of New York to rely on, but Gunner and I will continue our adventures in Connecticut. What do you want to hear about? I'd like to write about my journey as a mom and I really want this blog to be a record of how Gunner is growing and changing. I've been dying to share some of my favorite recipes, but I'm not sure this is the right forum. Anyways, I'm excited to get back into the swing of things with blogging.

Thanks for reading! Please share any advice or inspiration in the comments!
XOXO
SD