This year looks a bit different, with many of us searching for ways to celebrate Thanksgiving on a smaller scale, or looking for safer ways to share the foods that we love. With that in mind, I decided to put a spin on this recipe by creating individual mini pies, rather than a large single pie! These mini pies are about the size of a cupcake and absolutely the cutest. With a flaky traditional pie crust, rich and intensely chocolatey filling, and light whipped topping, this recipe might just make it into your favorites list.

Happy baking!

xoxo,

The Secret GF

*makes 24 mini pies

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 cups Not Your Mama’s Flour

½ tsp salt

⅔ cups vegetable oil shortening (I like Spectrum) or butter

2-4 tbsp cold water

For the chocolate cream filling:

1 can full-fat coconut milk

2 eggs

⅓ cup agave

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp arrowroot powder

6 oz bittersweet baking chocolate (cut into small pieces)

For the whipped cream topping:

1 pint heavy whipping cream (or coconut cream to make it dairy-free)

2 tbsp agave

4 tbsp raspberry jam (optional)

Steps:

First, make the chocolate cream filling. In a medium saucepan, whisk together all of the filling ingredients. Heat on low heat, whisking continuously until it begins to thicken (30-40 minutes). After about 40 minutes, you should have a smooth pudding-like consistency (it will continue to thicken much more as it cools).
Once done, transfer the filling into a metal or glass bowl and place in the fridge to cool. Once the mixture is cool enough to put a layer of plastic wrap directly on it, you can do this to stop a film from forming on the top of the chocolate cream.
While the filling cools, make the crust. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Add the vegetable oil shortening and cut the shortening into the flour with a fork. You should end up with pebble-sized crumbles.
Slowly add 1 tbsp of cold water at a time until the pie crust dough is moist enough to roll out but not too loose, being careful not to overwork it (you can always add more flour while rolling it out if you accidentally add too much water in this step).
Place a layer of plastic wrap on your counter and sprinkle with a generous amount of extra flour. Place the dough ball on the floured surface and roll out using a rolling pin until it is about 1/8th inch thick.
Use a large mug to cut out circles in the rolled-out pie crust and gently form these circles into individual pie cups using a cupcake tin.
Bake the crusts in the cupcake tin for 10 minutes at 375°F.
Once the crusts are done, let cool completely.
To make the whipped cream topping, whip the cream, agave and raspberry jam together using an electric mixer at medium speed until it reaches a whipped cream consistency.
Once the filling and crusts are cool, assemble the pies. Remove the crusts from the cupcake tin. Use a plastic ziplock bag (or pastry bag) to pipe the chocolate filling in the crusts until they are ¾ full. Using another bag, pipe a generous amount of whipped cream on top of the chocolate.
Serve immediately, and store leftovers in the fridge.

*These can be made in advance by preparing each component separately and assembling the pies right before serving.

Mini Chocolate Cream Pies (gf + df option)