Mini Pie's

We had some blackberries in our fridge that were reaching their "eat or throw away" point.  I didn't think we would eat them all by the time they went bad so I decided to make a pie out of them.  You can do this recipe for ANY berry pie (blackberry, raspberry, blueberry)...  If you can, make your dough from scratch (Google a pie dough recipe.  They are so easy and taste SO much better than frozen or store bought pie dough/crusts).  I had 2 packages of pre-made stuff that my grandmother gave me though so I used that instead.

Ingredients:
2 Pkg's dough (or refrigerated, or homemade)
3-4 Cups berries
1/2 Cup sugar

Directions:
*Spray down your ramekins (if you want mini pie's) or a large pie container with cooking spray.

*Mix up your pie dough as directed.

*Sprinkle your counter with flour and roll out your dough to cover the dish/dishes you are going to be using for your pie/pies.

*Put your bottle dough/crust into your dish/dishes.

*In a large bowl, put your berries.  Now sprinkle 1/4 a cup of sugar into them and stir it up.  If your berries are sweet you probably won't need any more sugar, but if they were tart or sour add more sugar.  You can use as much or as little sugar (or sugar substitutes) as you want, just do taste tests to see when it tastes just right.  You might use up to about 1/2 a cup or so.

*Now pour this berry mixture into your pie dish/dishes.

*Re-flour your surface and roll out your remaining dough.  Put over your pie/pies.

*Since I used ramekins for mine, I let the dough hang off the edge and didn't cut all the side dough off.  If your using a basic pie plate your yours, you will want to cut the dough off flush with the edges.  I like my dough to go over the edge though (the pie crust is always my favorite part of the whole pie!)

*Using a fork, press the top and bottom edges of the dough together so your filling doesn't overflow.

*Put your pie/pies on a baking dish lined with foil.

*In an oven pre-heated to 425*F, put your baking sheet with pies on it and bake for 10-12 minutes for small ramekins, and up to 15 minutes for a large pie.  Just keep an eye on them starting at 8 minutes or so because you don't want them to start to get brown yet.

*After the 10-15 minutes, lower the temperature to 350*F and continue baking for 20-25 minutes for ramekin pies, and 25-35 for a large pie.  You know they are done when they begin to brown a bit on the top.  There are no ingredients in the pie that need  to be cooked to be safe to eat, so if your pie is not fully done you are still fine (as long as the crust is crunchy and flaky you are fine).  :)