Mini Strawberry Pies

If you like strawberries with a creamy filling and buttery pastry, then you are going to fall in love with these Mini Strawberry Pies! Just imagine fresh strawberries on top of a divine little cream pie with a super flaky crust! It's a simple 2 step recipe that is the ideal mini individual strawberry pie dessert for your next party or gathering!

Jump to:

• 🌟 Why this is the best recipe
• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• 🎓 Expert tips
• 🥣 Equipment notes
• ❓Recipe FAQs
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• Mini Strawberry Pies

🌟 Why this is the best recipe

1. Super easy - There are no fancy ingredients or special skills needed to make this mini strawberry pies recipe. You likely have most of what you need already in your pantry.
2. From scratch recipe – Some recipes call for store-bought mini crusts and boxed vanilla pudding. Yet, my recipe is from scratch but not complicated making this the best mini strawberry pie recipe.
3. Super delicious - I've combined my best all-butter pie crust recipe and my favorite way to make diplomat cream and then topped them with fresh chopped strawberries to craft these fruity little mini strawberry pies that are absolutely delicious.
4. It is a detailed tutorial – I go over every detail to ensure that you produce the very best and most professional results. Baking is a science that sometimes requires many trials and errors. However, my goal is to make sure you get it right the first time around!

📝 Ingredient notes

This easy mini strawberry pies recipe doesn't require any fancy or expensive ingredients! You likely already have most of them on hand. The only thing to keep in mind is the importance of choosing high-quality ingredients for the best flavor.

For the Mini Pie Crusts

1. Flour: All-purpose flour will work perfectly. You can also use pastry flour if you prefer to make mini pie crust shells. To learn more about types of flour check out my flour guide.
2. Butter: It's imperative to use unsalted butter in all pastry recipes to control the amount of added salt. It's also necessary that the butter be very cold when making this pie dough. I suggest cutting cold butter into cubes and then placing it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before starting the dough. I use butter with 82% fat content in all my recipes.
3. Water: It works to bring the crust together by creating gluten and needs to be very cold just like the butter.

+ Plus a dash of salt! This is a very important ingredient in all dough recipes to help develop the flavor. So don't skip the salt!

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For the Diplomat Cream

1. Milk- I like to use whole milk with 3% fat, which creates a diplomat cream that is rich and creamy. Whole milk will always give the cream more flavor and produce a better consistency.
2. Sugar - Granulated white sugar is all you need to make the cream. You can find more information about what types of sugar to use for different recipes by checking out my sugar guide.
3. Egg - You will only need egg yolks for this recipe. You can use fresh farm eggs, which will give the cream a bright yellow color, or supermarket eggs, which will produce a more pale cream.
4. Cornstarch - Works to thicken the cream.
5. Flour - All-purpose flour works best and is used as another thickening agent along with the cornstarch. Also, remember to sift the flour. For more information on flour types and how to use it please check my handy flour guide.
6. Vanilla extract - Why not try making your own vanilla extract?
7. Unsalted Butter - I always use unsalted European-style butter with 82% fat content. The butter for this diplomat cream recipe has to be at room temperature.
8. Gelatin - I find using gelatin sheets to be the best option. But you can also use gelatin powder at a 1:1 ratio (3 gelatin sheets = 5g gelatin powder of the same strength). For more details on how to handle gelatin and alternatives check out my article on gelatin substitutes.
9. Heavy Cream - You must use heavy cream with 36% fat content for a smooth, rich, and creamy diplomat cream. It is also critical for this recipe that the heavy cream be very cold to make the homemade whipped cream.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

This recipe is super easy! It's basically my amazing super flaky all-butter 3 Ingredient Pie Crust turned into mini pie crusts and filled with my heavenly Diplomat Cream! Then the mini cream pies are topped with fresh sliced strawberries to make Mini Strawberry Pies!

1. How to make mini pie crust from scratch

So you've probably made pie crust before. But! How to make mini pie crust? It's basically the same as making any pie dough, but in my opinion, a little more fun to form and bake! For more information visit my mini pie crust recipe.

1. Mix flour and salt and place tem in the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes to chill.
2. Cut the cold butter into small cubes then place them into the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the chilled butter chunks to the cold flour and then rub the mixture between your fingers until it looks like coarse sand.
4. Don't overwork the flour and butter with your hands. There must be some bigger chunks of butter to produce a flaky crust.
5. Stir in a small amount of the cold water into the flour and butter mixture a little at a time to start bringing the dough together. You can use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to do this step.
6. With your hands carefully start binding the dough. It may look a little crumbly at first, but after a minute or two it will come together.
7. Shape the dough into a disk and cover it with plastic wrap. Then place it in the fridge to rest for a minimum of 2 hours.
8. Place the chilled dough on the kitchen counter to rest for a few minutes or until the dough is slightly warm enough to roll. The dough should still be cold, but not so cold it starts to tear when you try to work with it.
9. To roll out the dough, the easiest way is to roll it into a 42x30 cm / 16x12 inch rectangle in between 2 silicone baking mats (or on a lightly floured surface) with a rolling pin.
10. Measure the size of your muffin pan holes to help you figure out what the diameter of the circles of dough should be. They need to be the same size as the muffin holes (from the back) in the following way: 2x side + 1x bottom. In my case, this was 11 cm / 4 inches.
11. Cut out circles of dough to fit your muffin pan holes using a cookie cutter then start carefully shaping the dough down over the muffin tin cavities. I like to use every other cavity to prevent the mini crusts from touching each other as they bake in the oven.
12. It's very important that you do not force the dough or stretch it. The idea is for the dough to be moldable but still cold and not pulled on too much.
13. Put the muffin pan with the formed mini crusts back into the freezer for 10 minutes to chill while preheating the oven to 200 C / 372 F (no fan)
14. Bake the crusts for 20 minutes on the pan. Then remove the crusts from the pan very carefully. Now, lightly brush the bottom and edges of the crusts with a light egg wash made of egg yolk + milk. Then put the crusts on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and place them back into the oven for another 5 minutes to finish baking.
15. When done, the pie crusts will be golden brown in color. Then place them on a wire rack to cool to room temperature before filling.

💡 Top Tip: I've tested 15 different variations of egg wash along with 7 substitutes including vegan options. So if you'd like to learn more about egg wash, please check out my perfect egg wash guide!

2. How to make diplomat cream

Making diplomat cream is actually pretty easy! All you have to do is make a basic pastry cream, then add some cold heavy cream, visit my diplomat cream post for more information.

1. Start by soaking the gelatin sheets in cold water
2. Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together in a large bowl for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the mixture is slightly fluffy.
3. Whisk the cornstarch, flour, and vanilla bean paste into the egg yolk mixture
4. Bring the milk just to a simmer over medium then pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture while constantly and vigorously whisking.
5. Pour the milk and egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan. Now, cook it for a few minutes over medium heat while whisking until it thickens. Yet, if the mixture gets lumpy, don't worry, just keep whisking until it becomes smooth and glossy like a custard.
6. Remove the gelatin sheets from the water making sure to squeeze out the excess water. Then stir them into the mixture one sheet at a time.
7. Mix the soft room temperature butter into the pastry cream using a rubber spatula until it is completely blended then strain if needed to remove any lumps.
8. Allow the pastry cream to fully set and cool to room temperature.
9. Once cooled, give the pastry cream a few whisks just to lighten it up. This will make it easier to add the heavy cream.
10. Using an electric hand mixer whip the very cold heavy cream until it reaches soft peaks. Yet, be careful not to over whip it to the point that it forms lumps.
11. Gently fold the whipped heavy cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula. I like to add a third of the heavy cream at a time while carefully folding it in with each addition.
12. Once made, store the diplomat cream in the fridge for up to two days.

💡 Top Tip: When cooking the pastry cream, it's best to add the soft room temperature butter to the mixture in three stages and mix well after each addition for the best results.

3. How to assemble the strawberry mini pies

This is the most exciting part! So how to make strawberry mini pies? You've got your mini pie crusts baked, diplomat cream whipped together for your pie filling, and sweet strawberries! Now, all you have to do is put them all together and you have mini strawberry pies!

1. Fill the mini pie crusts with some sliced strawberries then spoon or pipe diplomat cream on top.
2. Slice some more fresh strawberries and then place them on top of the cream.
3. Garnish each small strawberry pie with some fresh mint leaves.

💡 Top Tip: The mini crusts must be cooled off and the diplomat cream must be fully set before you can begin assembling this strawberry mini pies recipe.

🎓 Expert tips

1. All the crust ingredients must be cold when making the pie dough. If the butter begins to melt or the dough starts to get too soft, you need to put it back in the freezer immediately so that it can firm back up.
2. Never knead the pie dough or use a mixer. Always use your fingers to prevent overworking it and ensure that there are large butter chunks to create an extra flaky texture.
3. How much water you will need to add to the pie dough can vary. So it's really important to only add a little bit at a time and also to stop adding it once the dough comes together.
4. It's essential to properly measure the diameter of your muffin pan holes before using a cookie cutter to cut the dough. Not doing so can result in dough circles that are either too big or too small.
5. Use a shallow bowl when cooling the pastry cream to speed up the process and cover it tightly with a plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the top.
6. Always strain the pastry cream mixture to avoid any lumps before adding the whipped heavy and turning it into diplomat cream.

🥣 Equipment notes

These delicious fresh Strawberry Mini Pies don't require much equipment to make, but there are a few tools that I always like to use for the most professional outcome.

First off, if you don't have a digital scale then you are missing out! This affordable little piece of equipment is the only way you can really ensure that the ingredients for the mini strawberry pies are being measured correctly. And when it comes to numbers and baking, I also highly recommend using a digital oven thermometer. Ovens can often vary by a few degrees, which can be due to age or even model.

Now, for the crusts, you will need a sturdy rolling pin to roll out the dough as well as some silicone baking mats for ease if you like to roll it out in my suggested way. And of course, you will need at least one 12 cup muffin pan to both mold and bake the mini pie crusts. I also recommend using a silicone pastry brush to apply the egg wash perfectly.

As for the diplomat cream, you like already have a decent hand whisk to mix the pastry cream. But you will also need an electric hand mixer to whip up the cold heavy cream to soft peaks and rubber spatula to gently fold it into the pastry cream without overmixing.

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