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I was originally going to blog about the lovely dinner party my friend Jessica and I hosted in celebration of the Solstice, and it still kind of will be. But the biggest thing I learned during the prep was this:
MASON JARS ARE AMAZING!
Some menu highlights included fresh pea soup with cream, vegetable kebabs with homemade bbq sauce, my fresh garden tomatoes and quinoa cooked in vegetable broth.
The serious highlight though? Dessert.
Pies in mason jars.
Rewind about a week, my mom and I were reorganizing the kitchen. We were redoing the spice and bulk cupboard and decided to use mason jars (various sizes) to hold spices, bulk lentils, nutritional yeast, etc. We stocked up on all sorts of sizes, and between those, some washed out old pasta sauce jars, and some labels, the cupboard is now super functional. Pies (apple pies and cherry pies) in mason jars. So begins my love affair with mason jars.
After that, mason jars were everywhere! I saw browsing a diy site I love, ReadyMade, and saw this fun article: 10 things to do with Mason Jars Besides Store Stuff. Seriously?! Awesome! People are so creative! I followed the link for individual pie-in-a-jar and found this fantastic, happy, colourful blog! And had to rock the pie.
Here's how I did it: (see their original post here)
1. Make pasty. I used their basic pie crust recipe.
2. Use the outer ring of the lid to cut tops for your pies. I cut one for the top, and one for the inside bottom of the jar. You could also top with a crumble, or a lattice top.
3. Roll out the rest of your dough flat on a lightly floured surface. Cut long strips and work it onto the inside of the jar, pressing it flat against the jar so the entire inside is covered. It doesn't have to look nice, just be covered.
4. Fill with your favourite pie filling. Here's my apple pie recipe, no idea where I got it but it's the one I always use.
4 cups sliced apples (Green, Granny Smith apples, peeled)
*I cut the apples into smaller chunks since the pies will be smaller,
*I cut the apples into smaller chunks since the pies will be smaller,
but for big pie I leave them in slices.
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp cold water
Combine apples, cinnamon, flour, sugar and water. Fill pre-arranged pastry.
5. Cut a hole of some sort (I used a butterfly cookie cutter to make a summer-themed vent!) in the tops
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| Step 6, Notice the butterflies |
6. Place the tops onto the pies, and join the pastry together (squish it together with fingers or a fork). Just make sure all the pie is inside, not going over the top edge.
7. Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes. Everyone asked if the glass would explode in the heat, but these jars are made to be boiled for canning, so it's all good. The blog suggested placing them in a cold oven, allowing them to heat up slowly. Makes sense to me so that's what I did.
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| Step 8 |
8. Enjoy!!
Alternate Step 7: Freeze them to enjoy the next time you crave pie! Simply put the lid on the jar and put it in your freezer. Handy tip: Using the inner, flat part of the lid as the stencil, I cut a circle of paper out to put in the lid for instructions.Write the instructions and type of pie on your label so anyone who wants it can use it! (Instructions: Remove lid, allow pie to come to room temperature, place in cold oven and bake at 350 F for 50 minutes). So baking them from frozen requires a bit of forethought since they need to thaw and bake for an hour, but what's a couple hours of wait when you can have fresh delicious apple pie in a jar!
Easy as pie!
Next on my list of mason jar adventure wishlist -> As a friend suggested : savory pies! Pot Pies, Shepherd's pie (There's a veganomicon recipe I've been waiting to try!), macaroni - my sister made this and it rocked! The possibilities are endless! And this Magnetic Spice Rack looks so great! One day when I have a great kitchen of my own, it's going to be so organized and full of jars.
