Loquat Mini Pies

These are the follow up Loquat Mini Pies for snacks at social hour. (The Loquat Tart recipe was just a practice run...)



There are still plenty of loquats on the tree if you want some.

Ingredients:

Pie Crust (for 48 mini pies)

• 2 1/2 cups (315 grams) flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
• 2 sticks (8 ounces, 225 grams tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold and diced into very 1/4” or so pieces
• 1/2 to 3/4 ice water

Filling (for 48 mini pies)

• ~ 8 to 10 cups of ripe loquats
  (before cleaning, about 5 cups or so after cleaning)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (adjust sugar based on ripeness of loquats)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 to 1 cup water (enough to wet bottom of pan)
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• (Optional - 1 tsp. vanilla)

Instructions:

1. Make up pie dough in advance!! 
2. Whisk together flour, sugar & salt in food processor.
3. Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour mix 
4. Cut in the butter with a couple of bursts of a food processor until the butter pieces are the size of tiny peas
5. Dump flour mix in a large bowl.
6. Drizzle in 1/2 cup of the ice-cold water.
7. Using a wooden spoon, paddle the dough together into a clump
   (Add the last 1/4 cup of water as needed, a tablespoon as a time.)
8. Press and fold the dough a couple of times. 
9. Cut into two pieces, shape into disks.
10. Wrap each disk snugly in plastic wrap, let chill in the refrigerator at least an hour.
     
11. Wash and quarter loquats, removing seeds. (I also pull out the skin previously around the pit.)
    (This can take a while...)
12. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
13. Combine loquats and water on stovetop and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until loquats are tender.
    (Or 5 minutes, if they feel soft to start)
14. Combine dry ingredients in small bowl, then stir into loquats. Add vanilla as well. 
15. Cook until thickened (about 10 to 15 minutes); remove from heat and cool.
16. While filling is cooling, spray 24 wells in each of two mini muffin pans.
17.  Roll out one of the pie crust doughs to about 1/8th inch thick (oblong shape is fine)
18. Pour filling into pastry-lined pan, add top crust if desired, and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Carole's Notes:

The loquats picked earlier this week were not ripe enough, and needed extra sugar. These were sweeter. Loquats taste sort of like an apple/apricot/peach/plum cross.


The recipe is a hodge podge of apple/peach pie recipes, with some flavoring from loquat jelly, and mostly adapts my Loquat Tart recipe to make mini muffin sized pies.
The pie crust is lightly adapted from http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/11/pie-crust-102-all-butter-really-flaky-pie-dough/