This Sept. 30, 2016 photo shows mini chocolate pecan pies at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. This dish is from a recipe by Elizabeth Karmel. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) When I have a lot of people coming over, I love to make mini pies, or "pie cups." I coined the name "pie cup" when I created a "pie program" for one of my restaurants and vowed to make pie the new cupcake in NYC.