Pumpkin pasties are sweet, handheld pastries filled with spiced pumpkin. They're perfect for serving at your next Harry Potter themed party or for Halloween.
Recipe summary
Flavor: A sweet, handheld dessert pie made with pie crust and pumpkin pie filling.
What is a pasty? A pasty (pronounced PASS-tee), is a small, baked pastry, usually associated with Cornwall, United Kingdom. Pasties can be made with savory meat fillings or sweet dessert fillings.
Yield: Twenty 3.5-inch pasties
More Harry Potter: Pumpkin Juice and Chocolate Frogs
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Pie crust - You'll need two pie crusts. Store bought or homemade pie crust can be used for this recipe.
- Pumpkin puree - Use pumpkin puree instead of pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is simply cooked and pureed pumpkin. Pumpkin pie filling has additional ingredients added, like sugar and spices, making it ready to pour into a pie and bake. If you're not sure which one you have, check the ingredients on the back.
- Spices - The cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves can be substituted with an equal amount of pumpkin pie spice blend.
- Turbinado sugar - Can be substituted with granulated sugar for the sugar crust.
- Brown sugar - Gives the filling a nice caramelized flavor but can be substituted with granulated sugar if needed.
How to make Pumpkin Pasties
- Roll out the pie crust on a surface dusted with flour and cut into 3 or 4" circles using a cutter, round lid, or drinking glass.
- Add 2 teaspoons of filling to each round. Fold dough over and crimp the edges with a fork.
- Cut slits in the top to vent steam, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake at 400F for 20-24 minutes or until the pasties are golden brown. Allow to cool before serving.
Tips and tricks
Cutting perfect circles - Don't have a biscuit cutter or large round cookie cutter? I used a wide mouth 16-ounce mason jar lid, which is about 3.5 inches in diameter. A drinking glass, small bowl, or round tupperware lid could also work in a pinch.
Make use of all your dough - To make 20 pastries from two pie crusts, gather your leftover dough and reroll it until it's all used up.
Don't overfill your pasties - For a 3.5 inch round pasty, I added about 2 teaspoons of filling. Test how much filling you'll need by making a single pasty and sealing the edges with a fork. If any filling spills out the sides, it's been overfilled.
Serving your pasties - Pasties can be served warm or at room temperature. Either way, they're best served the same day as baking.
Frequently asked questions
These pumpkin pasties are sweet, like a pumpkin pie turnover.
They're much like a classic pumpkin pie - the filling is sweet and spiced, and the crust is flaky and buttery.
Pasty is pronounced like PASS-tee.
Leftover pasties will keep for 2-3 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature, or up to a week in the refrigerator. The pie crust will soften over time, which is why they're best served the same day of baking.
Unbaked pasties can be frozen for up to 2 months in a tightly sealed, freezer safe container. After assembling, but before adding your egg wash, lay your pasties in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze until solid, about 2 hours, then transfer to a freezer safe container. Unbaked pasties can be baked straight from the freezer - simply add 5 minutes to the baking time.
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📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Pasties
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 g) canned pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup (53 g) brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 refrigerated pie crusts
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, or granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a bowl, add pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Dust counter top with flour and roll out pie crust to ⅛" thickness. Cut dough into 3 to 4 inch circles using a cookie/biscuit cutter, round lid, or drinking glass.
- Reroll dough and continue cutting circles until no dough remains. I made twenty 3.5" round circles from two pie crusts.
- Lay dough onto prepared baking sheets and add 2 teaspoons of filling to the center of each dough circle (filling amount will vary based on the size of your circles). Fold dough over to cover filling and pinch the edges closed with a fork.
- In a small bowl, whisk together egg and water. Brush the top of each pasty with egg wash, sprinkle with turbinado sugar, and cut three slits into the top of each pasty to vent.
- Bake for about 20-24 minutes, or until pasties are golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves can be substituted with pumpkin pie spice.
- Make ahead: Pasties can be assembled ahead of time and frozen (before adding egg wash) for up to two months in a tightly sealed container. To bake from frozen, continue with directions as written, but add up to 5 minutes of baking time.
- Storage: Leftover pasties can be stored in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or up to a week in the refrigerator. Pie crust will soften as it sets, and pasties are best served the same day.
Delicious and magical, and so easy! Thank you!
These came out perfectly. I opted for a less sweeter version and omitted the sugar topping. How long would it take to bake larger portions, like the size of a standard single serving turnover?
Hi Monica, so glad to hear you enjoyed the pasties! Larger turnovers may take up to 30 minutes to bake.
Do I cut the vents into them before freezing them?
Yes, you can cut vents into the pies before freezing.
When substituting the pumpkin pie spice for all the spices do you add up all the amounts of spices to know how much pumpkin spice to put in?
The spices in the recipe can be substituted with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (the measurements equal out to 1 1/8 teaspoons but for simplicity's sake 1 teaspoon will work just fine).
Why can't you use pumpkin pie filling?
Hi Karen, I mention in the post that pumpkin puree cannot be substituted with pumpkin pie filling because pumpkin pie filling is already sweetened and spiced, which is what we do in step two of this recipe (adding sugar and spices). If you used pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree and then followed the rest of the recipe, it would turn out too sweet and over-spiced.
I haven't tested this myself, but you could probably substitute the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves with canned pumpkin pie filling. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
Can you freeze after baked?Floretta
Hi Floretta, I prefer to freeze them before baking, but if you have leftovers, they can also be frozen. Make sure they're cooled completely before storing in a freezer safe container. Your pastries may dry out slightly when heated a second time, so I'd recommend only taking as many from the freezer as you intend to eat at one time. Hope this helps!