Today is one of my very favorite holidays.  Celebrating the monumental independence of our country with friends and family over watermelon and barbeque makes me believe for a brief moment that I actually appreciate this time of year.  Fruit pies seem nearly as synonymous with the Fourth of July as pumpkin and pecan pies are to Thanksgiving.  

Pie feels American.  We also know that Americans get starry-eyed over anything on a stick.  Pie + stick?  Well you just earned some patriotism points.  

Blueberries, being one of the only true-blue foods, conveniently come into season just before our red, white and blue holiday.  Thank you blueberries, we appreciate you.  

I have had the idea for these bite size pies for sometime now but was leery of the concept.  This pie crust made the task a simple one.  It's easy to work with and sturdy enough to grip the wooden sticks.  

Surprisingly, I found these mini pies much simpler than working with a full-size pie.  Maybe it's just me, but I think mini-anything is automatically more interesting.  

Perhaps mini isn't your style.  I get that.  Maybe you need all 8 inches of circular magic - that's cool.  Here are a couple of my favorite summer time pies.    

Strawberry Lemon Mascarpone Pie 

Blackberry Bourbon Pie

Orange-Meringue Pie 

Happy Independence Day!  Wishing you perfectly ripe watermelons and lots of charred hot dogs.   

Sincerely,  

  Pedantic Foodie

Blueberry Pie Pops

makes 14 pops 

for the filling:

- 1 cup fresh blueberries 

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 mint leaves chiffonade 

Toss the blueberries with sugar and mint, let sit at room temperature while preparing the crust.  

for the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup butter, cold, cut into cubes  
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream 
• 1 egg
• 14 wooden sticks 
• 2.5 inch ring cutter 
• granulated sugar 

In the work bowl of your food processor add flour, sugar, and salt - pulse to combine.  Add cold butter cubes and pulse several times until a rough dough begins to form.  Add 1 - 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, just enough for the dough to come together and turn out onto a floured surface.  Form the dough into a  flat round and place in zip-top bag.  Refrigerate dough for 20-30 minutes, until set.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment. 

In a small bowl whisk one egg and reserve.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to 1/8 in thickness.  Cut into 2 1/2 inch rounds.  For the bottom of the pie, take one round of dough and gently press a wooden stick onto its surface about halfway up the round.   Place 1 tablespoon of blueberry filling on dough round.  Using your finger rub egg wash around the edge of the dough and cover with second round, pressing the edges with the tines of a fork to seal.  Brush the tops and edges of pie with egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar, lay on baking sheet.  

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from baking sheet.  Enjoy!