Mason Jar Pies

Oh office holiday gifts!  I had not planned on giving gifts to ANYONE in my office as I work with a large group and I had also already brought in close to 4 dozen homemade cookies last week.  My trouble with individual gifts is always who to give to and who to leave out.  Of course my plan of no gift giving was going swimmingly until I had two colleagues show up at my office with two small holiday tokens.  I realize I do not have to reciprocate but felt as though I should do something.  I saw these over at A CUP OF JO and thought they were adorable and I could do that.  After some google searching I came across some instructions and here was my final product. 

Mini Mason Jar Apple Pies!

These little pies were very easy to make and here is how:

I have to admit I was a little lazy and bought pre-made everything.

The Goods:

1/2 pint mason jars

cooking spray

ready made pie dough

pie filling of choice (I used canned apple pie filling and then doctored it up with cinnamon and nutmeg)

How to:

1. Run your mason jars through the dishwasher to sterilize

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2. Spray the inside of your clean mason jars with cooking spray

3. Roll out pie dough and cut circles and place in the bottom of each mason jar 

4.  Cut strips of pie dough, coil and place inside mason jar (make sure to cut these strips tall enough so you leave about 1/2 inch of dough above the top of the jar), use the back of a spoon to attached the bottom dough circle to the sides

5. Fill each mason jar about 1/2 to 3/4 full with filling

6. Cut the same size circles for the top of your pies as you did for the bottom

7. Place the circle on top of your filling, fold over your side walls to loop over your "cover" and use a fork to crimp, put two slits in the top to vent

8. Place pies on baking sheet and bake in the oven for 40-45 mins, until golden brown

Now, I had a minor panic when I pulled them out of the oven and they had expanded well past the top of the mason jar.  To fix this I took a spatula and evenly and slowly pressed down on the pie.  After I had done this with all of the pies I took another baking sheet and put it on top of the pies and weighed it down with some heavy mugs, let it sit for about 5 mins and then we were good to go.

Let your pies cool completely on a wire rack and then you can cap the jar and decorate as you see fit for gift giving!

I think they turned out super cute and were really easy to make (bonus).  Hopefully they are a hit!

Let me know if you try them!