Written by Megan Bailey of Sweet Little Peanut for Building Blocks.
With fall comes pie baking and with Halloween comes jack-o-lanterns, so it’s only natural that we would want to combine the two! These fun hand pies are perfect for tiny hands and also a great fall baking activity you can do with your little peanuts. They’re almost too cute to eat plus they’re simple to put together– we call that an instant Halloween hit!
We set up a fun Halloween table for entertaining kids using our favorite Halloween tabletop items including spooky (and cute!) character plates with spiderweb placemats.
To make our little party guests feel extra special, we created these simple personalized pumpkins at each place setting using a bit of black and white paint. With these freshly baked jack-o-lantern pies, we were all set for one spooktacular celebration!
Jack-O-Lantern Hand Pies
- Ingredients
- 2 package pie dough for a double crust
- 1 1/3 cups roasted or canned pumpkin puree
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup regular cream cheese, softened and slightly warm
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 eggs {1 beaten together for egg wash}
- Raw sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix together the granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, salt, cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and vanilla extract until smooth. Scrap down the sides as needed. Set aside.
4. Gently roll out the pie dough just until smooth between two pieces of wax paper. Using a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter (we used this pumpkin cookie cutter from Williams-Sonoma), go around the pie dough in a circle and cut out pumpkin shapes. Using the tip of a sharp knife gently cut out triangle eyes and mouth. Feel free to have fun making different jack-o-lantern faces.
5. Place the pumpkins without faces on the cookie sheet. Brush the edges lightly with egg wash. Take 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons of filling and spread it around the pumpkin leaving the edges clear. Too much filling will ooze out so be careful here.
6. Press the faces gently on top of the puree and seal the edges with a fork. Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle the top with a little raw sugar.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes on the middle rack. Serve warm or cold.
Makes about 12 hand pies.
