When you think of fruit cups I am sure you think of fresh (or canned) fruit chopped up and mixed together. Kind of like the fruit cup they would serve you in grade school for lunch. Well this Fruit Cup is nothing like the fruit cup from our childhood memories. My alternate version of a fruit cup is a pastry cup full of fresh (or canned) fruit simmered down with pecans then topped with a glob of vanilla ice cream.

I came up with the idea of creating pastry fruit cups when I was thinking of what else I could make with the extra large muffin tins I used to bake big muffins. I also was trying to decide what to make with the leftover pastry dough my mom gave me so I could work on a new quiche recipe. Rather than make a big pie I thought I could create individual Fruit Cups that would be like a slice of pie.

The great thing about Fruit Cups is that you can fill them with any kind of fruit you like and make several different types at once. For this post I tried making peach fruit cups. They tasted like mini peach pies with a hint of pecans. Apples were a good substitute for the peaches when I made this for my hubby because he likes apple pie but blueberry and blackberry also work well with this recipe. I just had to tweak it a little and instead of using brown sugar and cinnamon I used only regular sugar and lemon zest to brighten the flavors.

Try making Fruit Cups the next time you have a desire for pie but don’t want the whole thing only a muffin sized slice.

Fruit Cups

Ingredients:
1 pkg of Pillsbury pie sheets (or your own crust)
2 15 oz cans peaches in heavy syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ cup pecans chopped
1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tsp of water
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 4 large muffin tins with cooking spray.

Add peaches with syrup, butter, sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg to a medium sized pot and simmer for 20 minutes over medium heat.

Cut out four 6 ½ inch circles (I used a cereal bowl to measure) from the pie sheets re-rolling the excess dough if necessary. Place each circle in the muffin tin then with a slotted spoon fill will fruit & nut mixture. Add a little of the juice from fruit to each cup. Fold over top of pie sheet to close the cup. Brush with egg wash and then vent with a knife. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until crust is golden brown. Serve with a scoop of ice cream.

Optional:
Sliced Apples
Blueberries
Blackberries
Strawberries

If using berries, substitute sugar for brown sugar and add a little lemon zest.

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