These are a cute and sweet addition to your summer barbecues. Our Shortbread pie bites are guaranteed to impress. A buttery cookie bottom, filled with a perfectly spiced fruit filling, and topped with a flaky and shattering pie crust. What more could you ask for?
Pie can be more than just a fall favorite. And with so much produce flooding the grocery stores this is your chance to make these. Our shortbread pie bites are buttery, full of perfectly sweet filling, and topped with a flaky crust.
These desserts can be made with three different fillings: Apple, Blueberry, and Cherry. We created these three classic flavors with one special ingredient. Brown butter.
Browning butter is very easy to do. All you have to do is take your butter and melt it a saucepan over medium heat. Once your butter starts to foam, turn down the heat to low and swirl in the pan until it reaches a light golden color. Take off the heat immediately! it will continue to brown in the pan so you don’t want to go too toasty with the color.
Brown butter brings a deep flavor almost like caramel or butterscotch that heightens all the other ingredients. In addition to the warming spices and the in-season fruits the brown butter brings these filling recipes all together.
Our shortbread pie bites are great for any occasion. Whether its summer barbecues, safe (and social distanced) family get togethers, you can even make these in the coming fall.
Each filling is measured out to make 12 pie bites. We also recommend using a pre-made pie crust from the store if you want to make this a little easier for yourself. Or you can use our recipe here.
Easy Flaky Pie Crust (coming soon)
We hoped you enjoyed this weeks recipe. Let us know how you liked it by leaving a comment or tagging us on instagram @vegiventurer or with the hashtag #vegiventurer. We will see you next week with another recipe!
Shortbread Pie Bites: Three Ways
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookie Crust
- 1 cup Butter room temperature
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
- 2 Large Eggs room temperature
- 4 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Apple Filling
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 2 Large Tart Apples finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Corn Starch
Cherry Filling
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 1 cup Fresh or Frozen Cherries
- 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar packed
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 tsp Pumpkin Spice
- 1/2 tsp Corn Starch
Blueberry Filling
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 1 cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
- 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar packed
- 1 tsp Grated Ginger
- 1 tsp Lemon Zest
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom
- 1/2 tsp Corn Starch
Shortbread Pie Bite Assembly
- 1 Large Egg beaten (for egg wash)
- 1 package Pre-made Pie Dough cut into 12 circles
- Demerara Sugar optional
Instructions
Shortbread Cookie Crust
- To make the Shortbread Cookie Crust, combine your flour, salt, and baking soda into a bowl and whisk together. In a large bowl, combine the room temperature butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Mix together until well incorporated.
- Add one egg at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, making sure each egg is incorporated into your wet ingredients.
- Gradually add the flour mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, making sure each time you add the flour is incorporated evenly.
- Once the flour mixture is all mixed into your wet mixture, let your dough rest for at leas 1 hour in the fridge. While your cookie dough is chilling in the fridge work on your pie filling of choice.
Apple Filling
- To make the apple pie filling, start by adding your butter into a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once your butter is melted and starts to foam decrease your temperature to low and let the butter come to a golden brown color.
- Add your remaining apple pie filling to your brown butter and let it simmer until the apples have softened and the mixture has thickened.
Cherry Filling
- To make the cherry pie filling, start by adding your butter into a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once your butter is melted and starts to foam decrease your temperature to low and let the butter come to a golden brown color.
- Add your remaining cherry pie filling to your brown butter and let it simmer until the cherries have softened and the mixture has thickened.
Blueberry Filling
- To make the blueberry pie filling, start by adding your butter into a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once your butter is melted and starts to foam decrease your temperature to low and let the butter come to a golden brown color.
- Add your remaining blueberry pie filling to your brown butter and let it simmer until the blueberries have softened and the mixture has thickened.
Shortbread Pie Bite Assembly
- Once your pie filling is made and cooled and your cookie dough is chilled, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Scoop cookie dough into equal sized balls. Grease a cupcake tin with non-stick spray and press the cookie dough into them. Once your oven is preheated, bake for 15 minutes until the edges of the cookie dough are set but the centers are soft.
- Take a spoon and press the centers of each cookie dough bite to set a well for your pie filling. Spoon a tablespoon size amount of filling into each pie bite.
- Brush the cookie crust with the beaten egg and place a cut piece of pie dough. Wash with more beaten egg and sprinkle with demerara sugar if using. Repeat for the remaining pie bites.
- Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the pie crust is golden brown and the cookie crust is set all the way through.
