These pumpkin hand pies begin with a do-it-yourself pie dough, are stuffed with a easy pumpkin pie filling, and completed with a candy maple glaze. Simply transportable private pumpkin pies with additional flaky crust… what may very well be higher? Like my apple hand pies and chocolate pastry tarts, it is a enjoyable baking venture you may completely deal with.
How do I like thee, pumpkin pie, let me rely the methods: there’s my favourite basic pumpkin pie; a big, feeds-a-crowd pumpkin slab pie; adorably bite-size mini pumpkin pies; oh, and easier-than-pie pumpkin pie bars… however in the present day I’ve a brand new variation on this favourite fall theme to share with you: pumpkin hand pies!
As a result of what’s extra enjoyable than a do-it-yourself, individually portioned pie only for you, no sharing required? It’s one of many many issues I like about apple hand pies, in any case. Listed below are some extra causes so as to add pumpkin hand pies to your fall dessert repertoire:
Why You’ll Love These Pumpkin Hand Pies
- They’re like pumpkin pop-tarts, solely recent & do-it-yourself 🙂
- Straightforward to eat grab-and-go dessert, no serving utensils or plates required
- A pumpkin pie filling simply as tasty as this reader-favorite pumpkin pie
- Scrumptious maple glaze icing on prime
- May be served heat, room temperature, or chilly, and actually style nice every means
- No blind/par-baking pie crust step required
- Hand pies may be ready days forward, or frozen for as much as 3 months
Plus, pumpkin hand pies offer you extra crust than filling in each chunk. So in case you love mega flaky buttery pie crust and the flavour of pumpkin pie (however don’t completely love the feel), that is the proper answer.
Begin With a Buttery, Flaky Pie Crust
First step is to make your pie dough. As a result of there’s a better crust-to-filling ratio in hand pies, we wish a crust that tastes GOOD.
I like to recommend utilizing my all-butter pie crust for distinctive taste and flake. It’s the identical crust I take advantage of once I make these do-it-yourself brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts. This crust, ready with a mixture of butter and shortening, is sturdy sufficient to bake in several shapes and designs. The recipe yields 2 crusts, and also you’ll use each on this recipe to provide 12–16 hand pies.
Suggestions for Success: Pie Crust
Do-it-yourself pie crust might intimidate you, so let’s go over a number of pie crust suggestions and methods:
Make it forward: Pie dough wants to sit back for at the very least 2 hours earlier than you roll it out, so I strongly suggest making it forward of time. It may chill within the fridge for five days, so go forward and make it when you will have time, and then you definately simply must assemble the hand pies the day you wish to bake them.
Use chilly fats and ice-cold water. Preserving the pie dough as chilly as doable is crucial. If room temperature or heat, the butter will soften as you combine and roll out the pie dough, rendering it not possible to work with. And, sadly, the baked crust might be powerful and dense.
Deal with the dough with care. When rolling out pie dough, go gradual. At all times begin from the middle and work your means out in all instructions, turning the dough along with your palms as you go. If the perimeters are cracking, clean them out along with your fingers and palms. In the event you discover the dough is cracking or too dry, dip your fingers in chilly water and clean out any cracks. If it’s cracking, it wants some moisture. If the dough appears actually flimsy and sticky, it’s too moist, so sprinkle some flour on it.
Can I take advantage of store-bought pre-made pie dough as an alternative? You completely can, however the crust might not be fairly as thick and flaky, or as flavorful. You want 2 pie crusts, as in case you had been making 2 single crust pies.
Pumpkin Pie Filling Elements
You want only a bowl and a whisk to make the pumpkin hand pie filling—no mixer required. Whisk collectively:
- Pure Pumpkin Puree: I favor utilizing canned pumpkin higher in pumpkin pies over do-it-yourself pumpkin puree—it’s often thicker and denser, and can keep put contained in the formed dough.
- Egg: An egg provides richness, which is vital for a clean texture. In any other case you’re mainly consuming sweetened pumpkin puree! You’ll additionally want an egg for the egg wash.
- Brown Sugar: I like the flavour brown sugar provides to pumpkin, due to its molasses content material.
- Flour: A starch thickener is among the most essential elements in a pie filling. I take advantage of cornstarch in my conventional pumpkin pie as a result of it helps arrange that pie’s thick filling; however in testing a hand pie model, I discovered that flour works simply high quality for the small quantity of filling in every hand pie.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You need to use both store-bought or do-it-yourself pumpkin pie spice mix.
- Vanilla Extract: A contact of vanilla rounds out all of the flavors.
- Salt: To steadiness the candy and the spice!
Find out how to Assemble Pumpkin Hand Pies
You don’t want a particular cookie cutter to make these fairly half-moon-shaped pumpkin pies. Merely place a bowl that’s about 5 inches diameter, give or take, the wrong way up in your rolled-out pie dough and reduce round it with a knife. Straightforward, proper? In the event you don’t have a bowl this measurement, reduce a 5-inch circle from a chunk of paper.
You’ll have to re-roll the scraps a number of instances to make use of up all of the dough, similar to we do when slicing out sugar cookies.
After I reduce the dough into circles, I pile the circles onto a plate and refrigerate for about quarter-hour. Bear in mind what I stated above? The colder the pie dough is, the better it’s to work with.
Then it’s time to fill the hand pies.
Spoon nearly 1.5–2 Tablespoons of the filling onto one half of every circle, leaving a border across the edge. Fold the circle in half over the filling, then crimp the pie crust edges with a fork to seal.
Use a pointy knife to chop a pair slits within the prime of every hand pie to vent steam throughout baking. Lastly, brush with a bit of egg wash to assist the crusts brown and develop that fairly shine.
Alternate Shapes
You possibly can form the hand pies nevertheless you need. I take advantage of a 3.5-inch spherical cookie cutter to make my apple hand pies. You need to use a equally sized pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter, resembling this one.
You possibly can additionally form into rectangles. See my do-it-yourself brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts for instance. I take advantage of a ruler and a pizza cutter and reduce the dough into 3×4-inch rectangles. Bake time might be roughly relying on measurement—simply bake till crust is golden brown.
Maple Glaze
This straightforward maple glaze is the icing on the… hand pie. It’s a flavorful of completion everybody loves. To make it, you want: confectioners’ sugar, pure maple syrup, milk, a pinch of salt, and both maple or vanilla extract. In the event you’ve made these reader-favorite maple brown sugar cookies earlier than, you in all probability have some maple extract in your kitchen! However in case you can’t discover it, or just desire a extra refined maple taste, you should use vanilla extract as an alternative.
And in case you don’t love the flavour combo of maple mingling with pumpkin, be happy to make use of a plain vanilla icing or the cinnamon icing from these do-it-yourself pop tarts as an alternative.
As soon as the pumpkin hand pies are cool sufficient to deal with, you may dip them within the glaze. The glaze units in about 1 hour.
All of the Pumpkin Pie Recipes You Might Need
This recipe is a part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual custom the place I share a handful of latest recipes that match into the pie/crisp/tart class. Be part of the group under!
Pumpkin Hand Pies
Prep Time: 3 hours
Prepare dinner Time: 25 minutes
Complete Time: 3 hours, half-hour
Yield: 12–16 hand pies
Class: Pastries
Methodology: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
These pumpkin hand pies begin with a do-it-yourself pie dough, are stuffed with a easy pumpkin pie filling, and completed with a candy maple glaze that units. Use do-it-yourself pie crust for greatest taste, or select store-bought pie dough for a shortcut. Use the step pictures above as your information for shaping.
Crust
Filling
Maple Icing
Directions
- Make the crust forward: Put together both pie crust recipe by means of step 5. (Once more, I take advantage of and suggest this all butter pie dough.) The dough should chill for at the very least 2 hours within the fridge (or as much as 5 days) earlier than utilizing.
- Roll out the pie dough: On a frivolously floured work floor, roll out one of many discs of chilled dough (maintain the opposite one within the fridge). Flip the dough a few quarter flip after each few rolls. At any signal of sticking, sprinkle some flour beneath then maintain rolling. Roll out till it’s about 1/8–1/4-inch thick. Place a bowl that’s about 5 inches in diameter the wrong way up on the pie dough. (In the event you don’t have a bowl this measurement, reduce a 5-inch circle from a chunk of paper and use that as your information.) Utilizing a pointy knife, reduce across the exterior of the bowl. You need to now have a 5-inch circle of pie crust. Repeat; re-rolling scraps as wanted. Place reduce circles on a plate/baking sheet within the fridge to maintain chilly. The colder the formed dough, the better it’s to work with. Repeat with 2nd disc of pie dough and refrigerate all reduce circles for at the very least quarter-hour earlier than filling the hand pies. You need to have about 12–16 circles in whole.
- In the meantime, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Line two giant baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the pumpkin, egg, brown sugar, flour, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and salt till fully mixed. (Makes about 1 and 1/2 cups of filling.)
- Assemble the hand pies: Spoon and unfold filling, about 1.5–2 Tablespoons per hand pie, onto one half of every crust circle, leaving a 1/4-inch border across the edges. Fold the naked half of the circle over prime of the filling to make a half-moon form. Press your fingers throughout the perimeters to seal, then crimp the pie crust edges with a fork. Place the hand pies on the ready baking sheets. Evenly brush the tops of the pies with egg wash. Utilizing a pointy knife, reduce 2–3 slits within the tops, to vent steam. At this level the hand pies may be baked, but when they don’t really feel cool to the contact anymore, refrigerate for at the very least quarter-hour and as much as 1 hour earlier than baking. The colder they’re going into the oven, the higher they’ll maintain their form. (After quarter-hour, they might start to leak a bit of pumpkin liquid out of the edges. That’s fully regular and high quality. Blot it with a paper towel earlier than baking.)
- Bake for about 22–25 minutes or till they’re golden brown on prime and across the edges. Midway by means of baking, rotate the baking sheets from prime to backside/backside to prime. Take away from the oven and permit the hand pies to chill on the baking sheets for five minutes, then switch to a cooling rack to chill till able to deal with.
- Make the icing: In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup, milk, maple or vanilla extract, and salt. When the hand pies are cool sufficient to deal with, dip the tops of every into the icing. If the flaky layers of crust get caught within the icing, swap to drizzling the icing on prime as an alternative of dipping. Place iced hand pies on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet or piece of parchment paper to catch drips. The icing will set in about 1 hour, however you may actually benefit from the hand pies earlier than that! Serve heat or at room temperature.
- Cowl leftovers and retailer at room temperature for as much as 1 day or within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
Notes
- Make Forward & Freezing Directions: Un-iced pumpkin hand pies freeze nicely for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than dipping in icing and serving. Pie crust dough freezes nicely for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than utilizing.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Glass Mixing Bowls | Rolling Pin | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Whisk | Pastry Brush | Cooling Rack
- Pie Dough: Retailer-bought pie dough works right here, however do-it-yourself all-butter pie dough creates a novel flaky, crisp, and buttery crust for the pumpkin filling. You possibly can additionally use my shortening and butter pie crust if desired. Or be happy to make use of your personal favourite pie crust recipe that yields 2 crusts.
- Pumpkin: Canned pumpkin puree is greatest on this recipe. I take advantage of and suggest Libby’s model. You don’t want a complete can, so here’s a listing of recipes to make with leftover pumpkin. If utilizing recent pumpkin puree, frivolously blot it earlier than including to take away some moisture. The bake time could also be longer.
- Alternate Shapes: You possibly can form the hand pies nevertheless you need. For these apple hand pies, I take advantage of a 3.5-inch spherical cookie cutter and maintain them spherical. You need to use a equally sized pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter, resembling this one. I don’t recommend something smaller than 3.5 inches in diameter as a result of you may’t match a lot filling in a pie that small. You may also form into rectangles. See my do-it-yourself brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts for instance. For these I take advantage of a ruler and reduce into 3×4-inch rectangles. Bake time might be roughly relying readily available pie measurement—simply bake till crust is golden brown. Use the identical oven temperature.