These Cherry Pie Cups are the perfect, festive summer dessert recipe.
Why make Cherry Pie Cups instead of a traditional, regular-sized Cherry Pie? They’re handheld, and they’re super easy to serve at a party! This recipe makes exactly 12 little pies, so it’s perfect for a small-ish party. They’re cute for the 4th of July, but you can decorate the tops of your pie cups in a lattice-fashion instead of stars and stripes if you’re just making them for a summer party.
How to make Cherry Pie Cups:
To make things super easy, you can purchase pre-made, refrigerated pie crusts to use for this recipe. If you’d like to make crust homemade, use your favorite pie crust recipe, or I can recommend this favorite perfect pie crust. Roll out the crusts, and use a 5-inch cutter to cut out twelve circles. If you don’t have a cutter, you can use the top of a smaller Tupperware bowl! Place one circle of dough into each muffin cup.
Combine the filling ingredients, and then divide the cherry filling between the pie cups.
How do you pit cherries?
Use my favorite cherry pitter to pit cherries for the best results. I’ve also seen people place a cherry on top of a wine bottle and then poke a straw through the top to poke out the pit!
Use the pie crust scraps to cut out stars and stripes (or whatever you want) to place on top of the pie cups. Brush them with egg wash (a mix of egg yolk and milk). If you have a chunky, white, sparkling sugar on hand, sprinkle that on top too.
Bake these Cherry Pie Cups for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are golden brown.
How to serve Cherry Pie Cups:
Serve with freshly whipped cream and a sprinkle of blueberries, and you’ve got yourself a cute, little 4th of July dessert. Have fun with these- enjoy!
Cherry Pie Cups
Ingredients
CRUST:
- Two pre-made pie crusts (or make your favorite homemade pie crust recipe)
FILLING:
- 2½ cups pitted and halved fresh sweet cherries (about ¾ pound)
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
TOPPING:
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream
- coarse grain sugar, optional
OPTIONAL TOPPING:
- whipped cream and blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
PREPARE THE CRUST:
- Roll out the ready made pie crust until it’s a bit thinner, and then let it rest for about 15 minutes. Use a plastic tupperware-type bowl as your “cutter” to cut out 5-inch rounds (unless you have a 5-inch cutter). You should be able to cut out 8 rounds from a package of two pie crusts (re-roll the scraps, if needed). Line 8 muffin cups with the rounds, pressing in lightly.
PREPARE THE FILLING:
- Place the filling ingredients in a medium bowl and toss. Divide the filling between the crust-lined cups.
FINISH THE PIES:
- With the leftover pie crust scraps, cut out decor for the tops of the pie cups- stars, stripes, whatever you’d like… be creative! Then crimp the edges of the pie cups.
- Whisk the egg and milk together to make an egg wash. Brush the pies lightly with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar- the chunky, sparkly kind of sugar if you have it.
- Bake the pies 15 to 20 minutes (watch closely since the baking time will depend upon how thinly you've rolled your crust). Cover lightly with foil during baking if they're browning too quickly. They should be lightly browned with the filling slightly bubbly.
- Remove the pies from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely (or serve warm). Serve with whipped cream and blueberries, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We just got back from a Montana roadtrip, and were lucky enough to have been there on the FIRST day of cherry season. I had no idea what to made with my surplus. Found this recipe and made them last night – OMG heaven. 🙂 They were soo good!! I paired your cherry mix recipe with the all-butter pie crust recipe on Smitten Kitchen.
Thanks for posting!
Sounds terrific- glad you enjoyed! And I have to tell you that Montana is our favorite state in the USA!
Can these be frozen ? Would you bake and freeze or freeze unbaked if freezing is possible ?
Hmmmm, I have not tried freezing these, so I’m not sure!
i made this these morning for my family’s 4th of july picnic and i was surprised how easy and cute they are…the hardest part was getting the pits out of the damn cherries 🙂