United Cakedom: Sweet Pumpkin Pasties!! {Happy Birthday Harry!}

These Harry Potter treats are something I’ve wanted to make for a while. I call them Sweet Pumpkin Pasties because I used American pumpkin pie filling. Here in the UK Pasty are generally (not all the time) savory. So, I would conclude that “Pumpkin Pasty” would have been a savory pie filled with pumpkin, potatoes, swede, and maybe some other sort of root vegetables. Makes sense as they were on the lunch trolley and would have served as a respective meal.

The amount of pies the dough makes doesn’t equal the amount of filling. I was making them just for myself so didn’t need all the dough. You can do one of three things double the pie filling or cut the dough recipe in half. Or last but not least choose a different pie filling of your choice: Apple/blueberry/sweet potato (the possibilities are endless) to use up the rest of your dough.

I found this recipe for fried pies in the book All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray, I baked my pies instead, but the ingredients used in her recipe for the dough is the same. The pumpkin pie filling I improvised through my knowledge of pumpkin pie filling! Also noted the recipe is in America measurements... I know I used cups! Gasp horror!

The smell of these wafting through the house while baking made my mouth water! My oldest mini-baker wasn’t too impressed with them, but the younger one loved them! I love pumpkin pie and so of course I really liked these. I liked how the crust to pie filling ratio was in favor of the dough! Enjoy!

Sweet Pumpkin Pasties:

Make the filling. You will need -

½ cup pumpkin puree

1 tbsp butter

½ ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger

pinch of cloves

1 tsp brown sugar and caster sugar

Mix all together and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

For the Pie Dough:

One 8-ounce package cold cream cheese, cut into a pieces

2 sticks (1 cup) cold butter, cut into a pieces

2 cups all-purpose flour (alternative: use 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Let the cream cheese and butter rest at room temperature before placing in a food processor, combine the flour and salt, then drop cut-up pieces of cream cheese and butter over the top. Pulse/mix until the dough is mixed, but not combined fully. Take the dough out to combine with your hands before dividing into 4 discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.

On a floured work surface roll out the cold dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Don’t forget to flour your rolling pin.

With a biscuit cutter cut out as many circles as you can. Flour them lightly so they don't stick together, and place them on a plate. Gather up the scraps of dough and set aside.

Reflour the work surface and repeat with the remaining 3 discs. Gather up the scraps of dough and combine them with the other scraps; gently knead the dough together into one disc, wrap, and pop into the refrigerator. Leave for a little while in the fridge before rolling out the dough scraps and cutting out circles.

Clear the work surface of any sticky dough and reflour. Roll out the biscuit shapes to 1/8 inch thickness. Lightly flour and collect them on a plate until all the pastry rounds are now thin minipancakes.

Now you will need:

1 large egg

1 teaspoon water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for baking

Coarse or confectioners' sugar for dusting

- also a pastry brush and fork!

Whisk together the egg and water. Clear the work surface and lay out as many pastry circles as you can. Place one heaping tablespoon of filling, but no more, on one half of each circle. Don’t spread.

Take the pastry brush and brush the egg mixture around the edges of the half circle where the filling is. Then fold over the empty half, forming a half-moon or pod. Using a fork, gently press down on the edge. Set the pie aside. Repeat until all the pastry circles are filled, painted with egg wash, folded, and forked.

Heat the oven to 350F /175C. Spray a shallow baking pan with baking spray or rub a thin layer of butter along the pan to keep them from sticking.

Use a pastry brush; coat both sides of each pie with some of the melted butter.

Arrange the pies evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, flip the pies over, then bake for 10 minutes more, until golden brown.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar once the pies are cooled.