For many years, I've made up mini pies in disposable foil tart pans that are a perfect size for one individual serving (3 3/8" X 7/8" deep), they cost me less than 5¢ each, I make up 2-3 dozen of them at a time in a variety of fruit fillings, instant clear jel as my thickener and freeze them. Much like PJ suggests in this blog, once my mini pies are frozen solid, I take them out and vacuum seal them to have them ready to bake and serve at any spontaneous moment in the future. Everyone who shares them raves about how wonderful they are. I have not had any comments about the crust being unpleasantly dry. Could this be because they are small pies versus a 9" pie? I am also wondering if I would see a noticeable difference in the crust if I thawed these mini pies the night before serving, and going to try it. My question is: when I take them out of the freezer the night before I plan to bake them, given they are vacuum packed and not in a clear bag, do I need to open them and insert toothpicks, etc. to keep the plastic off the crust while thawing, like done in this blog?

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