Cherry Vanilla Mini Pies

Notes to myself (Sarah) on today (Wednesday) 8/16/11:
1. Stop eating over the kitchen sink!
2. Stop nibbling on anything and everything after dinner.
3. Stop making more food than can humanly be consumed in one sitting, it calls you later, silly.
4. Drink only one can of diet coke per day, not 3 and 1/2
5. Drink more yerba mate chai mate tea, because it is amazing.
6. You are having your wisdom teeth removed in less than one week, start getting pudding recipes.
7. You are having your wisdom teeth removed in less than one week, stop eating so much crap or you will totally get major sick-o like last time and be in pain and super duper nauseated and such.
8. More veggies.
That is all.

I love pie. :)
I am so proud that I finally completed this recipe. I was storing a recipe for old-fashioned cherry vanilla pie in my archives forever, and when I went to make it this week I realized that it used tapioca as a thickener...a little strange for me so I trashed the original and came up with my own to ensure proper cherry to juice ratio. Very important mathematical equations have been used to determine this ratio. Actually, I just threw away the first batch and adjusted some ingredients to make it p-e-r-f-e-c-t. I love a good cherry pie. And I love minis. Because they're cute and because who doesn't want their own pie all for themselves? Anyways, cherry pie is my favorite so I definitly want my own.

I was totally burnt out from making this baked lemon meringue pie the other day. I usually never buy anything store-bought, but I broke down after seeing this recipe from Gingerbread Bagels. On a related but seperate note, I am really sick of my pie crusts sticking like glue to the bottom of my pie plates. No matter how much I butter and grease and try not to push down it ALWAYS sticks. Is the only answer just to use non-stick pie plates? Help please, and thank you. :)

Here's way too many pictures (11 actually) of me making pie.

Cherry Vanilla Mini Pies
*Makes three mini pies, 4"x1".

For the crust:
1 pckg Pillsbury pre-made sugar cookie dough, in the refrigerated section
  -After making this with the above cookie dough, I reccomend that you make your own sugar cookie dough, unless you like the taste of store-bought...I discovered (sadly) it's not for me.
1/2 cup flour

In a large bowl, mix together the cookie dough and flour. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Refrigerate one portion in plastic wrap. Butter 3 mini pie plates (4"x1"). Gently press one piece of dough into each pie plate and use your fingers to spread the dough out. Chill the pie plates while you make the filling.

For the cherry vanilla filling:
3 cups fresh or frozen pitted cherries
2 tbl water
3 tbl sugar
1 tbl cornstarch
3 tbl tart cherry preserves
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
*I recently had a run in with a really alcohol-y pure vanilla extract. It ruined my first pie and tasted like medicine. I swear by this vanilla extract by Nielsen-Massey.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat cook the cherries with 2 tbl water until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the sugar and cornstarch until no lumps remain. Add the sugar mixture to the cherries and cook until dissolved, about 30 seconds. Add in the cherry preserves and vanilla extract and continue cooking until the mixture thickens considerably, another minute. Divide the filling equally among the 3 mini pie plates and top with reserved dough: divide the dough into 12 small balls, roll each ball into a 4" log, flatten the log into a strip, crisscross strips over pies to form lattice-work, and seal edges. Alternatively you can simply fold in the sides of the pie dough to form a sort of tart. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.