Dessert #7: Pie Pops

I've been looking for a reason to revisit pie pops, and since Mom-In-Waiting at tomorrow's shower transformed my original thoughts on half pint mason jar pies, and banana pudding dessert plans, I decided pie had to be somewhere at a Cowgirl party. So, I bought another bucket (#7), and squished it on my dessert bar menu.
What self respecting Cowgirl doesn't eat pie? (This has nothing to do with anything remotely ranch, but I'm OK with twisting everything to fit what I need it to fit for my own purposes...chase that wild goose hunt if you dare.)
I saw this idea on Bakerella's Blog last year, and I told myself to 'wait' to make them for a holiday (and not a holiday I make up, which is usually what I end up doing so I don't have to wait for stuff). But then, a few days later I made up a holiday (Carrilee's family came for a visit from WA) because I really was losing sleep over how stinking cute the pops were, and how they needed to roll out of my kitchen NOW.
I blogged about this is pretty excruciating detail, but I won't go back there...if given the choice between reading that and a root canal..just say, 'Ahhhh.'
Basically, I learned a lot about how not to make the pie pops the first go round.
This time, I reread my advice before making the pops (which is the whole point of blogging about it anyway-it's my living recipe book, advice book, and eye witness testimony to any cases I feel like initiating against...uhhh...I guess, myself. Ha...I just pretended like I take my own advice. :Moves back from screen so growing nose doesn't hit the monitor and interfere with this blog session.:
Back to the pie pops. I have purchased a round circular cookie cutter since my last attempt (where I used the edge of a measuring cup_. I rolled out the store bought pie crust (they come in packages of two, and this will make 20 pie pops), so that it was about the size of an 8 inch pie dough. You could definitely go thinner while rolling...a lot thinner. The crust to filling ratio can be overwhelming if not. I got about 20 round pieces out of each crust (though I did have to take the scraps and do more rolling to get out the last four).
I used about half a can of cherry pie filling for the 20 pops, and I left most of the juice back in the can, spooned out the cherries into a bowl, and added about a T or less of corn starch (to thicken the juice so it wasn't too runny).
I pressed a sucker stick down the entire line of the circle (I had a lot of pie pops slip off last time b/c I didn't get the stick pressed down well. I added two cherries for each pop's filling.

I took a second pie circle, and ran water all along the edges, and then pressed the 'watered' side down to the cherry covered bottom piece (this helps the dough to stick down better, just case you are like me and just figured this out. I didn't trust the water so I still did a lot of gentle pressing and messing with the seams, and then I used a fork to crimp the edges.
I brushed the tops of all the pops with egg wash (the whites of the egg) so they would brown, and then I sprinkled the top with Wilton's Sugar Crystals. Last time, the sweetness level was a little lacking, and so I've added this step for my own benefit. I also think Wilton's Crystal Sugar's look like glitter, and I have a thing for glitter.

The original instructions say to bake for 10 minutes at 350 and cover the sticks with foil to prevent them from burning. I didn't cover the sticks (and they didn't burn), but I did have to double the baking time. I basically left them in the oven until the pie crust was a light brown.

Despite my best 'pressing' some of the filling oozed out, but after they cooled, they are still clinging tightly to their sticks.

I bagged the little pops up in cellophane bags, tied them with raffia, because raffia makes the world better....and packed them up for consumption tomorrow!