Pumpkin Pasties {Harry Potter Inspired}

Harry Potter has inspired a lot of bakers to try their hands at pumpkin pasties. Many are crusty hand pies, and most people say they would be savory, but I’ve always imagined something softer and sweeter. Here’s what I came up with! My recommendation is to double the filling.

A couple weeks ago I posted my pumpkin juice recipe, which is a drink from the Harry Potter series.

Well, over the weekend I made another Harry Potter inspired treat–pumpkin pasties!

I’ve seen many recipes inspired by this fictional food. Some sweet, some savory (I picture them as sweet, since the foods on the trolley were usually candies). Most of them are pumpkin puree wrapped up in pie crust (hand pies, basically). Which is adorable and close to what I pictured while reading the books.

However, they didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I’ve always imagined something softer. Sweetened pumpkin puree wrapped in something like my mom’s filled sugar cookie dough. (ETA: A commenter informed me that pasties are a real thing in England. You can read more in the comment below. Very interesting stuff! These are still delicious, though. :P)

Which is what I did. I also used the pumpkin filling from Chew Out Loud, because it sounded absolutely perfect.

Pumpkin Pasties

For the dough:

• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 5 cups flour

For the filling (I recommend doubling this):

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

For the cinnamon sugar topping:

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Step 01: Make the dough by coming the ingredients from top to bottom. You can use a mixer or a food processor for everything before the flour. Once you get to the flour, you should really mix by hand. (By that I mean using your hands to squish it all together.) I’ve destroyed the motors in food processors and hand mixers trying to mix this dough together. Cover the dough and let it chill for at least one hour (up to 24 hours).

Step 02:  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the dough and cut it into whatever shape you want your cookies to be. I used my handy dandy cut-n-seal from The Pampered Chef. Place the cut out cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet.

Step 03: In a small to medium bowl, whisk the filling ingredients together. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling onto each cookie cut out.

Step 4: Cut out more cookies in the same shape. Cover the filled cookies and use a fork (or your cut-n-seal) to seal the cookies. Use a pastry brush to brush the tops of the cookies with milk. Sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top (to taste). Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack.

As my first shot at pumpkin pasties, these were delicious. As far as Harry Potter goes, though, I have mixed feelings. When I think of a “pasty,” it’s definitely something like this. Soft pastry, not flaky or firm like pie crust. But it didn’t give me the same nostalgic feeling the pumpkin juice did. I’ll keep searching for that perfect pasty, but in the meantime these will do. 🙂

One thing I would change: I would double the pumpkin filling and put twice as much in the pasties. As is, this definitely works, but it’s barely enough to fill all of the cookies. A lot of what I got were just mouthfuls of pastry. Good…but I was really hoping for some pumpkin. 😛

What did you imagine pumpkin pasties would be like?

This post was featured on Epic Mommy Adventures.

Harry Potter Inspired Pumpkin Pasties

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Prep Time: 1h 30m Cooking Time: 10-15m

Ingredients

• For the dough:

• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 5 cups flour

• For the filling (I recommend doubling this):

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

• For the cinnamon sugar topping:

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Step 01: Make the dough by coming the ingredients from top to bottom. You can use a mixer or a food processor for everything before the flour. Once you get to the flour, you should really mix by hand. (By that I mean using your hands to squish it all together.) I’ve destroyed the motors in food processors and hand mixers trying to mix this dough together. Cover the dough and let it chill for at least one hour (up to 24 hours).

Step 02:  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the dough and cut it into whatever shape you want your cookies to be. I used my handy dandy cut-n-seal from The Pampered Chef. Place the cut out cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet.

Step 03: In a small to medium bowl, whisk the filling ingredients together. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling onto each cookie cut out.

Step 4: Cut out more cookies in the same shape. Cover the filled cookies and use a fork (or your cut-n-seal) to seal the cookies. Use a pastry brush to brush the tops of the cookies with milk. Sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top (to taste). Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack.

Pumpkin Pasties {Harry Potter Inspired} was last modified: May 22nd, 2017 by Chelsey