These Vegan Pumpkin Hand Pies are mini pumpkin pies made with puff pastry filled with a creamy pumpkin pie filling for the perfect pumpkin spice season. If you love hand pies, you’ll also love my Vegan Apple Hand Pies.
Mini Vegan Pumpkin Hand Pies
I love the idea of a mini, bitesized pie. And with Autumn quickly approaching, it’s time to share all things pumpkin and spiced! These adorable pumpkin hand pies are a fun and versatile alternative to a large, whole pumpkin pie. To top them off, they’re even served with a swirl of whipped cream, I mean, how autumnal can they be?!
Ingredients to make these pumpkin hand pies
I am about to shock you. These pies only contain 7 ingredients (8 if you count the milk which is for the glaze). They’re ridiculously easy to make, and you probably have all the ingredients ready to go in your pantry as we speak!
Puff Pastry – You’ll need 1-2 sheets of puff pastry. You can use homemade, but I like to use shop bought, as it saves so much time as is much easier to use! The brand I use is Jus-Rol and I used their gluten-free puff pastry, which is also vegan friendly, making this recipe suitable for vegans and those on a gluten-free diet!
Pumpkin pie filling – Similar to a large pumpkin pie, these hand pies are filled with a pumpkin filling. I used tinned Pumpkin puree, which is basically mashed up and pureed pumpkin. I couldn’t find pumpkin puree anywhere in supermarkets near me, so I picked up a few tins from Amazon. I’ve linked the exact pumpkin puree I use here. To make a delicious pumpkin pie filling, you’ll also need dairy-free cream cheese, light brown sugar and spices.
Tools you’ll need to make pumpkin hand pies
- Baking trays
- Mixing bowls
- Wooden spoon
- Weighing scales
- Grease proof paper
- Pumpkin cookie cutter
- Rolling pin
- Fork
- Food brush
How to make cream cheese pumpkin pie filling
The filling for this recipe takes a total of 5 minutes to make, and contains of just 4 ingredients:
- Dairy-free ream Cheese
- Brown Sugar
- Pumpkin Puree
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
It’s important the cream cheese is at room temperature before starting. Since the filling is mixed by hand, softened cream cheese will be much easier to mix into a smooth and creamy consistency.
To start, cream the cream cheese along with the sugar. Once smooth and combined, add in the pumpkin puree and spices. Add the pumpkin puree in 2 stages, this will make it much easier to mix until smooth. The consistency should be like pudding which is perfect for filling these mini pumpkin hand pies.
How to assemble and shape mini pumpkin pies
Thankfully, this recipe is crazy easy so you, your kids and anyone who makes them will have so much fun in the kitchen!
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You will begin by lightly rolling out the puff pastry sheet. Doing this will smooth out any lumps or bumps in the pastry. Cut out the pumpkin shapes, you can either use a pumpkin cookie cutter or make your own out of a paper or card stencil. Simply print off a pumpkin shape on some paper, cut out the pumpkin and use it as a guide over the pastry, cutting out the shape with a knife.
After cutting out the shape, lay hand of them on the grease proof paper lined baking trays. Between the two sheets of pastry, you should get about 15 pumpkins in total.
Fill half of the pumpkins with 1-2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie filling, then brush the edges of the pastry with dairy-free milk and place another pumpkin shape on top. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the pastry. This will create a seal and little pumpkin parcel so that none of the filling will escape when they bake.
You can decorate the pumpkins with some little slits in the top of the pastry and sprinkle over some pumpkin spice sugar over the top.
Pumpkin hand pies FAQ
Can the pies be made gluten-free?
- Yes!! To make them fully gluten-free, use a gluten-free puff pastry. I use Jus-Rol which is vegan & gluten-free. If you don’t have that brand, simply use which ever brand you have available.
Will this recipe work with short crust pastry?
- You can, but it results in a much more crumbly and biscuit like pie. Puff pastry puffs in the oven leaving you with a melt in the mouth, flakey pastry.
Can I make these pies ahead of time?
- You sure can! I like to make them a day or two before serving, so it allows all of the flavours and spices to get richer.
How to store mini pumpkin hand pies?
- Store the pies in a sealed container in the fridge. Allow them to come to room temperature before serving.
If you make, and love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. It would mean so much, thank you & happy baking!
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Vegan Mini Pumpkin Hand Pies
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy Vegan Mini Pumpkin Hand Pies, baked with a delicious cream cheese pumpkin pie filling, cinnamon sugar and puff pastry.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pie filling
- 115g of dairy-free cream cheese
- 100g of light brown sugar
- 110g of pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
Ingredients for the pumpkin spice sugar
- 2 tablespoons of white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
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- 2 sheets of vegan puff pastry (I use Jus-Roll)
- Dairy-free milk (glaze)
Instructions
Method (pumpkin pie filling)
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free cream cheese and light brown sugar. Whip until smooth and creamy. You can use a stand mixer fitted with balloon whisk attachment or an electric hand whisk. You can even do this by hand with a hand held whisk.
- add in the pumpkin puree and spices and mix to combine. The texture of the pumpkin pie filling should be thick and creamy.
Method (pastry)
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C fan and line 2 baking trays with grease proof paper.
- Unroll the pastry sheets leaving in the baking paper. Use a rolling pin to slightly flatten out any wrinkles in the pastry.
- Using a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, cut out pumpkin shapes on both of the pastry sheets. Roll out the scraps to cut out a few more shapes.
- Transfer these pastry shapes to the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
- To half of the pumpkins, add 3 slits to the top of the shapes (As seen in the photos). This creates texture and you’ll also see some of the pumpkin filling through.
Assemble
- To assemble the pumpkin hand pies, I find it is easiest to make one at a time. Take one of the pumpkin pastry shapes wihtout the slit in, and place it onto the lined baking tray. Add 1-2 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie filling into the middle and brush some dairy-free milk around the edge of the pastry, this will help the pastry stick. Tip: Don’t add too much filling or it will ooze out when baking. It may also result in the pumpkin pie loosing its pumpkin shape.
- Lay one of the pumpkin shapes with the slits in on the top and press the edges down to stick the the pie filling and milk. Brush milk over the top of the pie and sprinkle with some pumpkin spice mixed with some sugar. Repeat for all of the pies.
- It’s best to bake the pies a tray at a time as the pastry will puff up. I like to bake 6 on a tray at a time. Place into the middle of the pre-heated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden in colour and the pastry is flakey.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly on the tray then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve at room temperature or warm. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.
Notes
To store: Store the pies out of the fridge if eating right away. Keep stored in the fridge in a sealed container and allow to come to room temperature before enjoying.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15-18 minutes
- Category: Pies and pastry
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Perfect
Absolutely delish
I accidentally left these out over night, are they still good?
How is this gluten free?
Author
Simply using a gluten-free puff pastry. My go-to is JusRol x
Dangerously delicious! Super quick and easy to make. I have this cheap and cheerful pumpkin cutter/press pie thingy that worked a treat – will be making again 🙂