pumpkin pasties. or pumpkin mini-pies. whatever. delicious!

CUE: Fall cliché. I went to a pumpkin patch. You may remember this from my apple crisp experiment. On that trip I bought apples, picked fresh greens and selected a lovely deep orange pumpkin. And after sitting in my apartment for three weeks, that pumpkin begged to be used.Really. It was like, “Cecelia, PLEASE bake me into something delicious!” Okay, not really. But it would have if it had thought about it for five seconds.

ENTER, stage right: super cute photos of pumpkin pasties. Uh… how could you NOT want those? So I decided to try the recipe myself. But first, I cut up my pumpkin patch pumpkin and roasted it to make my own puree (instead of that canned stuff). It tastes great, but it took FOR-EV-ERR, so I think in the future I’ll stick to the ready-made stuff. Pumpkin pastry marathon, ahoy!

Pumpkin Pasties (or Pumpkin Mini-Pies) based on this recipe from Allison Eats

INGREDIENTS

Pie Dough (Martha Stewart’s Pate Brisee)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Pumpkin Pie Filling

2 cups pumpkin puree

3 large eggs + 1 large yolk

2 Tablespoons bourbon (I didn’t have any on hand, so I substituted vanilla extract)

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

Dough – Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add butter and work into mixture with a pastry cutter until it resembles course meal.
Gradually add ice water and fluff with a fork until mixture begins to come together (but isn’t sticky). To test, squeeze a small amount together: if it crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.

Filling – Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a pie dish.

Whisk together all ingredients until smooth. Pour into pie dish and bake for 1 hour. Let cool completely.

Assembly – Whisk together 2 Egg Yolks + 2 TBSP Heavy Cream, for egg wash. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough onto floured surface, about 1/8-inch thick. Using a drinking glass or round cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough. Scoop about one and a half Tablespoons of pie filling into the center of half the dough rounds. Using your finger, wipe the edges of the filled rounds with egg wash. Top your pies using the remaining dough rounds, and press around the edges with a fork to seal well. Use a sharp knife to cut 4 slits in the top of each pie. Brush egg wash over the pies and transfer to parchment lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired. Bake for 20 minutes, until edges are golden brown.

VERDICT – The mini-pies were delicious and popular among my coworkers, as promised. However. This recipe is a marathon. A do-it-once-for-kicks thing. Recipe says you can make 17 of these things? I made 8 and gave up. Too much work, time, and effort for teeny, tiny pies. That said, they were DELISH, and everyone who had one thought they were amazing. So there’s that. Also, do not underestimate the cute factor!

Recommended for: a delicious take on the traditional pumpkin pie, those looking for a novel way to use up extra jars of pumpkin puree, true pie enthusiasts, and anyone interested in a day of precise baking and über-cute results.