Celebrate your love for all things Harry Potter (or simply celebrate fall) with these homemade Pumpkin Pasties. They're essentially pumpkin and spice filled hand pies. Although you can find these treats at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, you can easily make them yourselves at home with this simple recipe!
2ready-made pie crusts or enough homemade pie dough for 2 single-crust pies(my preferred pie dough recipe follows)
Filling:
1cup(225 grams) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
3tablespoons(40 grams) packed light brown sugar
1large egg
½teaspoonpure vanilla extract
½teaspoonground cinnamon
¼teaspoonground ginger
⅛teaspoonground cloves
⅛teaspoonground allspice
⅛teaspoonground nutmeg
Egg wash:
1egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water
Instructions
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
If using homemade pie dough, remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest for a few minutes at room temperature. It will be easier to roll out if it’s not ice cold.
Make the filling by whisking all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until smooth.
If using homemade pie dough, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the one pastry disk until it is ⅛-inch thick (or even slightly thinner). If using ready-made pie crust, simply unroll a thawed pie crust onto your floured work surface.
Cut out 5-to-6-inch diameter circles of dough (use an inverted plate or bowl and a paring knife to trace around it). Set aside the dough circles. Continue with the remaining disk of pie dough and reroll the scraps if necessary. You should have 8 circles of dough.
If the dough circles have warmed up and softened too much, place the dough circles in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm back up (if they are too soft or warm, they can get sticky and hard to work with).
To assemble pumpkin pasties, place about 2 tablespoons of filling in the center of each dough circle. Fold the dough over onto itself, pressing the edges to seal (if the dough seems dry and doesn't stick to itself, brush the edges with a little water first). Use the tines of a fork over the edges to crimp them. Repeat with the remaining dough circles and filling.
Arrange the pumpkin pasties on the prepared baking sheet. Chill them on the sheet pan in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm up (they will bake up flakier if the pastry is cold).
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F with the rack in the center.
After the pasties have chilled, remove them from the refrigerator or freezer. To vent, cut 3 slits on top of each, or cut a Harry Potter lightning bolt scar onto the center of each. Lightly brush the tops with the prepared egg wash. If the egg wash fills in the vent cuts, just use your knife to go over the cuts again to make sure they are open. Then bake for about 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer pasties to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Instead of calling for "pumpkin pie spice" I actually list out the spices you should use since not everyone has pumpkin pie spice. You could, however, use about 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice in place of the list of spices in the recipe if you prefer.
If you prefer an even sweeter pumpkin filling, you can increase the amount of brown sugar by another tablespoon or two. Perhaps taste the filling first (before adding the egg) and make the decision then if you want to sweeten it more.
If using homemade pie dough, try rolling the dough more into a square rather than a circle. This will make it a bit easier to cut four circles out of each disk of dough, one from each quadrant.