How to Make Blueberry Mini Pies from Scratch

Blueberry mini pies are the epitome of summer. Homemade blueberry filling inside delicious buttery pastry makes the perfect hand-held pie. Mini blueberry pies are perfect for lunch bags, afternoon treats, beach day picnics, and they are small enough for little hands.

I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.

You may also be interested in my cherry hand pies and my peach puff pastry tart recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my pie and tart recipes in one place.

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Blueberry mini pie recipe

Homemade pies are better than anything you’ll get in the store. These mini handheld pies are bursting with fresh blueberry goodness, the crust is buttery and delicious, and there is no need for utensils, plates or clean-up.

Blueberries are in season and it’s a great time to bake a batch of these hand pies. Because they tend to disappear so quickly, I often make a double batch to freeze some of them for later when I want a sweet treat but I don’t have time to make them.

What you need to know

These simple hand held pies are one of our favorite spring and summer treats. They are not hard to make, but they do require a bit of planning – the crust and the filling will both need time to cool and rest before assembling the pies.

I live in a very warm and humid climate, neither of which works well with making pastry. That being said, this pie dough is so simple. It is much easier to work with than regular pie crust and more forgiving. If the dough starts to get sticky, put it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up again.

Ingredients

• Flour – All-purpose flour is the base of the crust.
• Sugar – Used to sweeten the filling and the crust.
• Buttermilk – Buttermilk keeps the crust tender.
• Lemon – The zest of a lemon goes into both the blueberry mixture and the crust.
• Blueberries – Used to make the filling for these blueberry mini pies.
• Butter – Butter makes the crust flaky and delicious.
• Egg – Used as an egg wash to both seal the pies, and brushed on top.
• Cornstarch – A slurry made from cornstarch and water is used to thicken the filling.
• Salt – A pinch of salt goes into both the filling and the crust.

How to make blueberry hand pies

Here’s a quick summary of how to make blueberry mini pies. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe. 

Make the filling

This is something you can do ahead of time. The filling needs to be completely cooled before assembling the pies. I often make the filling the night before and let it cool in the fridge overnight.

1. Cook the blueberries with sugar until the berries begin to burst. Add a bit of lemon zest and break up any remaining whole berries with a potato masher. Then whisk in a cornstarch slurry, and let it cook until thickened.
2. The mixture should be fairly thick, and will slide off the spatula, or spoon, in sheets, rather than dripping off. Set aside to cool completely before assembling pies.

Make the dough & fill the pies

You can make the dough a day or two ahead of time. It is a great task to do the day before if you need to break it up. Then let it rest in the fridge to allow the flour to fully hydrate.

1. Cut cold butter into flour until it resembles wet sand.
2. Add buttermilk and stir to combine until all of the flour is incorporated. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
3. Roll out the dough, cut the dough out using square cutters.
4. Egg wash the edges to seal the pies once they are filled. Cut vents in half of the squares of dough – those will be the tops.
5. Place a spoonful of blueberry in the center. Be careful not to overfill.
6. Carefully place a square of pastry on top, and press the edges with a fork to seal.

FAQ’s

Helpful tools and equipment

• Heavy duty sheet pans that hold up to high temps without warping.
• Parchment paper sheets are MUCH easier to use than tearing pieces off of a roll.

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Blueberry Mini Pies

Cheryl Bennett

Hand held mini blueberry pies are a delicious summer treat.

4.72 from 7 votes

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course Pies and Tarts

Cuisine American

Servings 24

Calories 227 kcal

Equipment

• J.K. Adams Maple Plain Rolling Dowel

Ingredients

  

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For the Filling

• 4 cups blueberries 1 ½ lbs. / 690g / 2 pint containers
• ½ cup sugar 100g
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch cornflour in UK
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest freshly grated
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the crust

• 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 450 grams
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 ½ cups unsalted butter very cold and cut into small pieces / 339g
• 1½ tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¾ to 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the Egg Wash

• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

 

Make the dough

• Whisk together flour, zest, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of tiny peas.
• Gently stir in 3/4 cup buttermilk with a rubber spatula, mixing it until it starts to come together, then knead the dough two or three times to form a ball.

  *If it doesn’t come together, add remaining ¼ cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does, then gently knead again. (I had to add all of the remaining ¼ cup)
• Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or up to two days.

Make the filling

• Taste a few blueberries: If they are sweet, use closer to ½ cup sugar. If they are not, you may need up to ¾ cup of sugar.
• Combine the blueberries with the sugar in a medium saucepan. Simmer on low heat until sugar has melted and berries begin to burst. Stir occasionally. This will take about 5 – 7 minutes.
• Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Once blueberries have begun to burst and sugar is melted, mash any remaining berries and slowly add the cornstarch mixture (slurry) to the pot, while whisking constantly. *Do not dump it all in at once, the cornstarch will clump.

  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it has thickened.
• Add the lemon zest, butter, and salt, continue cooking for another 30 – 45 seconds. Remove from heat and cool completely. *This can be done a day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.

Assembly the blueberry mini pies

• Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C, and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Generously flour the counter top, then unwrap one of your disks of dough.

  Gently begin rolling it out, with a floured rolling pin, starting from the center and rolling outward. The dough will be pretty firm when you begin, so be patient. (it will warm quickly, so not too patient!)
• Keep rolling from the center out, turning the dough as you go, until it is about 1/8 inch thick.

  *If the butter in the dough begins to get too warm and it starts to stick to the pin, or gets sticky / mushy, slide it onto a baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes to firm up again.
• Once dough is rolled out, use a 2 ½ – 3 inch cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out pie dough, or use a knife and cut into squares.
• Prepare egg wash, get out the pastry brush & set aside.
• Lightly brush the edges of half of your squares of dough with egg wash.

  Cut vents in the center of the other half of your dough squares – those will be the tops.
• Place 1 rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of the egg washed halves and top with the vented pieces, taking care not to overfill. *Overfilling will make it difficult to seal, and it might leak out of the side.

  Lightly press in place with your fingertips, then seal the edges by pressing with the tines of a fork.
• Brush with the egg wash on top and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.

  Chill in the refrigerator before baking if dough begins to get mushy. Repeat with remaining disk of dough and filling until you've used all of your dough. You can re-roll the dough scraps, try not to work the dough too much.
• Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet 1 – 2 inches apart and bake for 15 – 18 minutes until golden and puffed.
• Cool on wire rack.

Video

Notes

• Cook time includes 2 hours of resting time for dough. Active time is approximately 45 minutes.
• If you want to sprinkle the top with sugar, you will need sanding sugar or any coarse sugar like demerara.
• If you are making these on an especially warm and/or humid day, remember to slide the dough back into the fridge when it begins to get sticky, or too slack.
• You’ll want to use a large mixing bowl to make the dough – You need room to work in the bowl, and a bowl that is too small will make it more difficult.
• I made the dough recipe twice – once with inexpensive store-brand butter (Costco) and once with Kerrygold Irish butter. The dough actually turned out MUCH better with the cheaper butter! Don’t be tempted to use your higher fat butter here.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 227kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 3gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 185mgPotassium: 61mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 424IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 22mgIron: 1mg

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Originally published 7/2/14, most recent update 5/29/25.