Savory Pumpkin Pasties

These pasties are so delicious!  I’ve made them for pie contests, appetizers, dinner, and for my Harry Potter themed Christmas.  They’re a little time consuming, but not more than any other hand pie.  My mom gave me this neat little plastic pocket pie crimper.  It really speeds up the process.  Her set came with three.  I use the smallest one.  It’s about three inches in diameter.

You can make pie crust with my trusty recipe here, or if you’re feeling lazy any refrigerated crust will do.  Whoever designed this pie crimper really covered their bases.  The back of it is a cookie cutter.  I can just swivel it back and forth and have perfectly sized circles every time.  If you’re going to be hand crimping, you can use a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, a bowl or a glass.

Equipment:

hand pie crimper or a fork

Cookie sheet

parchment paper

knife and cutting board

skillet & spatula

can opener

medium mixing bowl

Egg wash & pastry brush

cooling rack

 

 

Method

1. Dice the onion.
2. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic.  Cook until onions are translucent.  Stir frequently to avoid burnt onions.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
4. In a medium bowl, mix all filling ingredients.
5. Cut pie crust into circles.  I got about 16 3 inch circles out of two pie crusts.  Re-roll any scraps and continue cutting until you do not have enough scraps left to make a circle.
6. Put some filling into the crust.  I could not fit a full tablespoon in each pasty.  If you overfill them, they are less likely to stay together and look neat.
7. Wipe the edges of the pastry with water.  In my experience, this helps to keep the edges together.
8. Fold your pie in half so that it looks like a half moon.  If you’re using the crimper, simply fold and squeeze.  If you’re doing it by hand, take your fork and press the edges of the crust together with the tines of the fork.
9. Repeat until you’re out of pastry or filling.
10. Place the pasties on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
11. Cut a small slice in the tops of your pasty.  The pumpkin will be more likely to explode out of your pie shell if the steam from the cooking pumpkin does not have anywhere to go.  You can do this in any design you like.  I did sets of two parallel slices in this batch, but you can do lightening bolts for Harry Potter, single slices, or whatever makes you happy.
12. Using the pastry brush, brush the tops of the pastry with egg wash.
13. Put the pasties in the oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Allow the pasties to cool completely before eating.  The insides will be much warmer than the outside!  I put the pasties on a cooling rack to ensure the bottoms do not get soggy.

We hope your pasties turn out just as great as these.  Every time I make them, there aren’t any leftovers.  Please share your own experiments on our Facebook page or in the comments.

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