If you are a sweet-tart fan you will love this Rhubarb, Mint, and Vanilla Bean Pie recipe! Rhubarb is a really interesting vegetable (yes it is a veggie), as it has a tart flavor. It isn’t something you can really cook up without the use of sugar but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a natural approach to sweetening it like I did for this recipe. Rhubarb is super duper easy to work with and requires just a minute or two of prep time before putting it into the pot to boil down. I decided to steep some mint leaves into the rhubarb because my husband threw them into the bag the rhubarb was in and they smelled so amazing. Fresh mint is one of my favorite smells, however it isn’t overwhelming in this recipe. The tartness of the rhubarb is overpowering so if you aren’t really a mint fan you can easily omit the mint.
I scored the vanilla beans at the grocery store a few weeks ago for $1.50 a piece! If you know anything about vanilla beans, you know they are really expensive. Usually one vanilla bean is anywhere from $6-8 so when I saw those babies sitting there for that price I had to snag a few. I probably would have bought the whole box if I thought I could have used them all! Vanilla beans are also really easy to work with. After you do it one time, you’ll be a pro! All you have to do is take a paring knife and slice the bean in half lengthwise. You will have two long beans pods with all the little beans (like the black dots in vanilla bean ice cream). At a 45 degree angle scrape the beans from the pod. If you are making something that you can throw the shell of the pod into after you have scraped the beans, you can do that as well. I always try to throw the shell in just incase I missed any of the flavorful little beans !
These mini pies feature my whole wheat pie crust that I use for pretty much any recipe that requires a crust. Making your own pie crust is so easy it almost makes me mad that the grocery store sells crusts that are loaded with dangerous and unnecessary ingredients. Pillsbury sells refrigerated pie crusts in tubes, and let me tell you the ingredient list is scary to say the least! Their crusts contain partially hydrogenated fats (trans fats!), BHT and BHA (banned in other countries), other preservatives, and even artificial food dyes. Companies love to take advantage of the laziness of American’s and this is a prime example. I made this crust in literally 2 minutes using a food processor, and if you don’t have a processor it takes about 5. I’ll spend 2 minutes to make my own instead of consuming dangerous crap any day! To shape your mini pies all you have to do is roll out your pie dough, take something you have that is a large circle (lid of a yogurt container, a cup, etc.), and cut a circle. Fill each pie with about 1 1/2 Tbsp of filling and fold over. Use your finger to press around the edges to seal the pie and that’s it! You’ll want to let your dough firm up in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes before you score it (cut the lines on the top).
Whole Wheat Pie Dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted cold butter (or 3/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5-8 Tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Put flour, salt, and cold butter chunks in food processor or Ninja. Pulse a few times to “cut in” butter. If you do not have a processor simply cut butter into chunks, add to flour, and break up into pea sized pieces.
- Slowly add in cold water a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together.
Rhubarb, Mint, and Vanilla Bean Mini Pies
By Published: July 17, 2014
- Yield: 8 mini pies (8 Servings)
- Prep: 30 mins
- Cook: 25 mins
- Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
Use this filling in my whole wheat pie crust to make delicious mini pies the whole family will love!
Ingredients
- 5 large stalks rhubarb
- splash fresh lemon juice
- 5 leaves mint
- 1/4 cup+ 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup or raw cane sugar
- 2 Tbsp whole wheat white flour to thicken if needed
- 1/2 vanilla bean pod
Instructions
- Cut ends off of rhubarb and peel outter layer. Chop rhubarb into chunks and put it into heavy bottomed saucepan with lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.
- Allow rhubarb to cook down over medium heat. When you see most of your chunks are broken up and your mixture is very stringy (about 30 minutes), strain stringy flesh from mixture using a fine mesh strainer.
- Return strained juice back to saucepan. Add mint leaves, vanilla bean, and additional Tbsp of sugar. Allow mint to steep into mixture for about 10-15 minutes. Remove mint leaves and vanilla bean pod. Mix 2 Tbsp of flour with two Tbsp of water and add to mixture to thicken (I don't use cornstarch because most of it is GMO). Bring mixture to the brink of a boil to thicken, remove from heat, and allow to cool.
- Prepare whole wheat pie crust as directed above. Allow crust to firm in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes prior to use. Dust surface with additional flour and roll out pie dough (you will need to dust dough as well) about 1/4 inch thick. Using a large circular item cut circles to fill.
- Fill circles and fold over. Take finger and seal circle the whole way around. Try not to overfill as you will have a very leaky pie! Allow pies to firm up for 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.
- Score pies gently with a serrated knife. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown.
