Mosaic Pie – The Pancake Princess

This colorful pie features three different flavors of pie in one! Mini hand pies get baked together in one dish for a variety of pie flavors that can be pulled apart–perfect for a party, barbecue or spring gathering!

I first saw this style of pie posted by @sibster on Instagram! Using storebought pie dough and fillings, Sibia and her children filled little rounds of pie dough with three different types of fillings and placed them all in a pie dish. Once baked, they had a colorful pie (some say it looks like a stained glass pie) that could be pulled apart for everyone to sample different pockets of pie flavors!

It’s such a fun idea and so perfect if you’re craving a little variety in your pie. I tested a version with homemade pie dough and fillings and I have a few tips and tricks below for you.

What kind of pie fillings can I use?

For my pie, I used a fresh blueberry, fresh strawberry and salty honey pie filling. You can use any kind of fruit filling you like, but I highly recommend using a cooked fruit filling. This will both help all the fillings cook at a more even rate, and it’s also less messy and easier to spoon into the pie dough compared to a fresh fruit filling with lots of juices from the macerated fruit.

Additional fruit filling ideas: raspberries, blackberries, apple, pear, cherry or peach pie.

You can also use a variety of baked custard pie fillings, but I recommend only doing one custard filling out of the three. Looser custard fillings make it hard to keep the shape of the mini hand pies–you’ll need at least 2 firmer pie fillings to help keep the structure of the pie.

I also don’t recommend custard pies that only need a short bake time (like key lime or lemon meringue pie) as fruit fillings will need to bake for nearly an hour and delicate custards may curdle with a longer bake time.

Additional custard filling ideas: chess pie, chocolate chess pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie.

What pie dough should I use?

You can use any pie dough recipe for the base of this pie! My go-to (and the one I used for this pie) is the pie crust from 50 Pies, 50 States cookbook. You’ll only need a single pie dough crust’s worth for this pie. Feel free to use your favorite pie dough recipe here.

You can also use a storebought crust for ease if you prefer! Depending on the brand, you may want to ensure you have 2 crusts to assemble this pie as the volume of the pie crust can vary.

Tips on making three pies in one

After testing this pie several different ways, here are my tips and tricks for maximum success!

• Use a cooked pie filling: I tried this with both a fresh blueberry/strawberry filling vs. cooked fillings and the latter was far easier to manage. Using a fresh filling means your fresh fruit may roll around and excess liquid may leak out of the mini pies. Cooked fillings are much easier to spoon into the pie dough and hold their shape.
• Let the fillings cool completely before filling: Make the fillings first and let them cool completely (around 30 minutes at room temperature, or you can put them in the fridge for 15-20 minutes) before using. If your fillings are still warm, your pie dough will soften and it’ll be hard to keep its shape.
• Keep the dough rounds cold: Again, to help the pie dough keep its shape, I recommend stamping out all the dough rounds and then refrigerating them for 5-10 minutes before assembling the pie.
• Work quickly: Once you start assembling the mini pies, work quickly (best to have someone else help!) to make sure the pie dough doesn’t get too warm and start to sag.
• Set up empty pie rounds for runny fillings: You can use whatever pie fillings you like! I liked this combination of blueberry, strawberry and salty honey filling because the strawberry and blueberry fillings were firm enough to stand on their own. However, I filled in the gaps with empty rounds of pie dough that were pinched shut and added the salty honey filling right before baking because it’s too runny to keep its shape without structure around it.

How to make a mosaic pie

Below you can find step by step instructions on how to make this mosaic pie. It is a bit time-consuming to make your own pie dough, fillings and then assemble the pie, but the end result is totally worth it!

But if you prefer, you can always use a storebought pie dough or fillings instead for a faster process.

Step 1: Start by making the fillings. For the salty honey filling, simply whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Step 2: For the blueberry and strawberry fillings, combine half of the fresh fruit and remaining ingredients and cook on the stove for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in the reserved fresh fruit and set aside until fully cooled, around 30 minutes (or 20 minutes in the fridge).

Step 3: Roll out your prepared pie dough to around 1/4″ thick. Use a 2″ cookie cutter or glass to stamp out at least 24 rounds of pie dough, re-rolling dough as needed to get every last scrap! Put the rounds of dough on a parchment-lined pan and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes.

Step 4: Add a small spoonful of filling to a round of pie dough and pinch to seal.

Step 5: Place filled rounds of pie dough into a greased pie plate, pressed flush against the other rounds of pie.

Step 6: Fill in any empty dough rounds with the salty honey filling. Once the pie plate is filled, bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes. The crust should look flaky and slightly golden and the fillings should look bubbly and set!

Serving and storage

This pie is best enjoyed the day it’s made. Any leftovers can be stored in the pie plate, covered with plastic wrap, or in a Tupperware and refrigerated. Leftover pie is great cold out of the fridge, microwaved, or is best reheated in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 300!

Mosaic Pie

Erika Kwee

This pie features three flavors of pie in one thanks to pockets of individual hand pies baked into one large pie that resembles a mosaic or stained glass!

Ingredients  

• 1 batch pie dough (enough for a single crust), prepared and chilled for at least 2 hours

For the blueberry filling

• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 tsp water
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 tsp lemon juice

For the strawberry filling

• 1 cup strawberries, diced
• 1 tsp water
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 tsp lemon juice

For the salty honey filling

• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Instructions 

For the blueberry filling

• In a small saucepan, add 1/2 cup fresh blueberries along with 1 tsp water. Cook over medium heat until they start to simmer and release juice. Simmer for a minute or two, stirring frequently.

• In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tbsp cornstarch and Pinch kosher salt. Sprinkle this mixture over the blueberries and cook, stirring frequently, until thickened (about 2-3 more minutes).

• Remove filling from heat and stir in 1 tsp lemon juice and remaining 1/2 cup blueberries. Set filling aside to cool completely (at least 30 minutes).

For the strawberry filling

For the salty honey filling

• In a small bowl, combine 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, 2 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp melted butter, 1 tbsp heavy cream, 1 tbsp granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp cornmeal, 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1/4 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp vanilla. Whisk until smooth and set aside.

To assemble the pie

• Roll out your chilled, prepared pie dough into a large circle about 1/4″ thick. Use a 2-inch cookie cutter or glass to stamp out as many circles as possible, at least 24-26 rounds. Re-roll the dough scraps as needed (more rounds are nice to have in case a few get messed up, or if you’re using a larger than 9-inch pie plate).

• Place the dough rounds on a parchment-lined plate or baking tray and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes.

• While the rounds are chilling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a 9-inch pie pan.

• Working with one dough round at a time, place a small spoonful of blueberry or strawberry filling in the center of each round and pinch the edges to seal. Place the pinched hand pie against the edge of the pie plate.

• Working quickly, continue to fill the mini hand pies using alternating fillings and place them around the edge of the pie plate working from the outside in. Because the salty honey filling is so runny, I recommend pinching empty rounds of dough and using them as a “placeholder”–you can fill these up once the entire pie plate has been filled to help provide structure.

• Finally, fill in all the empty pie rounds with the salty honey pie filling. Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes, or until the pie crust is lightly golden and flaky and the fillings look set. Let cool, then pull apart your mini hand pies and enjoy!

Notes

Blueberry and strawberry pie fillings adapted from King Arthur.
Salty honey pie filling adapted from Four and Twenty Blackbirds via Joy the Baker.
Pie crust recipe via 50 Pies 50 States.