At our little gathering last weekend one of the sweets I made was Pumpkin Pasties.  These were far more delicious than I expected and were incredibly easy to make.

For the filling I made my regular filling for pumpkin pie, baked it until set and then just scooped it out of the baking dish as I filled the pastry.

The dough couldn’t be easier although it requires some work.  It’s 1 1/2 cups of four, a stick of butter and 8 ounces of cream cheese.  The butter is cut into the flour as you do when you make a pie crust.  Once that is done you add the cream cheese and  mix until it sort of holds together.  Dump it out onto a floured surface and knead it until it holds together.  This takes quite a bit of work, I honestly didn’t think it would ever hold together but eventually it did.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for a minimum of an hour – I left it overnight.

I rolled the dough out (quite a bit of work in itself) until it was about 1/8″ thick.  Using a 4 inch round cutter I cut the dough.  This dough is very pliable, easy to roll out and fill.  Putting each round in my hand I filled them with about a tablespoon of filling.  I had beaten an egg with a little water and used my finger spread a little on the edge then pinched the edges together to seal.  After putting them on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper I brushed them with the egg wash and sprinkled them with sparkling sugar.  Then I cut a couple of vents in the top of each one.

Bake them in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. They will be a nice puffy pastry when they come out of the oven, quite beautiful.

Everyone thought these were delicious.  The pumpkin filling was something unexpected in a tiny turnover.  I think I will make these again deviating from the Hogwarts Express pumpkin thing and make them with an apple or blueberry filling.  Maybe we just like our fruit better than our vegetables.