Potterheads of WordPress rejoice! Bake these pumpkin pasties then fill your face.

I’m sure there are already tons of recipes for these popular wizarding world treats available out there, but I wanted to sort them out for myself to test my magical baking skills. It took a bit of experimenting, but I managed to put together a recipe for pumpkin pasties for the fall season. At first I gave the ol’ college try to gluten free vegan pasties, but they were a dusty disaster. So this is a more classic recipe with gluten and butter and eggs. Sometimes you gotta go with what works!

I started with a real pumpkin – let’s do this right, pumpkins aren’t just for carving! Scoop out the seeds and innards and cut that baby into chunks like the image below.

I loaded mine up into a le creuset steamer over a pot of boiling water and steamed until a fork could sink in easily. You could also put it face down on a pan and roast in the oven, whatever works for you. I felt the steaming was easiest and fairly quick (I say quick, but it was probably still like 20 minutes. It’s cool, there’s other stuff to do while you wait). I also spread the seeds out on a tray and toasted them in the oven until browned. Yum.

Pumpkin Pasties!

Dough:

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup chilled butter, cut into cubes

1/2 tsp table salt

Cold water (about a 1/2 cup, added a bit a time)

1 egg + 1 tbs water for egg wash

Filling:

2 cups pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbs white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 cup butter

For the dough: I used my hand blender to mix the cold butter into the flour and salt just enough that it looked crumbly, leaving some big-ish chunks of butter. I then used my hands to smush the dough together with a tablespoon of cold water at a time until it formed a loose dough that stuck together when pinched, but wasn’t sticky. Be careful not to over mix the dough, just work it enough to get the ingredients blended and into a cohesive lump, but nothing more. I shaped a ball and put it in the fridge to chill while I worked on the filling.

For the filling: Once the softened pumpkin was cooled enough to handle I removed the skins and put all the edible bits into a pot with the sugar and spices and a hunk of butter. I heated it to melt the butter, mixing it all together. Use a hand blender to puree the pulp down into a smoother texture and then taste. If you think it’s missing anything add it in now. Transfer the filling to a bowl and let chill.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it’s about 1/4″ or 1/8″ thick, and cut 4-5″ circles with a bowl or lid. Wet the edges and put a spoonful of filling in the centre. Fold the pastry over and pinch the edges to make sure they are sealed. Using a fork, give them an extra squish for the pretty edges. I used a knife to perforate the top with a little design to let heat escape and prevent the seals from busting in the oven. Transfer the pasties to a parchment lined baking tray and brush the egg wash over the tops. If you wanted to sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar that’s probably a pretty good idea, but I didn’t. Pop them into the oven at 400F for about 20-25 minutes, or until browned on the top.

I was pretty pleased with how these turned out, and that I found a way to use a pumpkin! I had lots of puree left over so I just threw it into the freezer for another day. These would be super tasty with a drizzle of icing and a bowl of vanilla ice cream.