This recipe is a spin on traditional pumpkin pie. Not overly sweet, it gracefully combines the classic holiday flavors of gingerbread and pumpkin. These pies taste best when allowed to cool to room temperature before eating.
To Make Mini-Pies:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees; coat two 12-cup standard-size muffin tins with nonstick spray. Roll Flaky Pie Dough into two 15-inch circles; cut six 5-inch circles from each (a 5-inch circle biscuit cutter or cookie cutter works well for this) and transfer into tins, arranging 6 in each tin so dough isn’t touching (you’ll be using every other muffin cup). Gently push each circle of dough down into the muffin cups and up the sides like you would if you were transferring dough to a pie tin. Trim edges to 1/4 inch, and press with a fork around the edges for decoration. Prick bottom of shells, chill 15 minutes and blind bake.
(For blind baking these minis, foil cupcake liners are ideal. Place 1 liner in each shell, fill with dry rice or beans, and bake 10 minutes. Remove liners and bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove pans from oven; cool 10 minutes before filling with pumpkin pie filling.)
Fill shells with 1/3 cup pie filling; bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons streusel over each pie; bake until set in center, 5 to 10 minutes. (Watch pie crust edges carefully; if they start to get too brown, cover them with little strips of tinfoil). Remove from oven, cool to room temperature.
For Pie Dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cubed
1/2 cup shortening, cold, cubed
3/4 – 1 cup ice water
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
Stir flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter and shortening until it’s the size of peas.
Combine water and vinegar, then add to flour-butter mixture, stirring with a fork until dough holds together. Form into a ball, divide in half, flatten each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour before rolling.
For Pie Filling:
2 eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
Whisk eggs, brown sugar, and molasses together in a bowl until combined. Add pumpkin puree, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, and stir until blended.
Stir in cream until mixture is smooth.
For the Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup crushed gingersnaps
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Combine gingersnaps, pecans, crystallized ginger and butter in a bowl until gingersnaps are saturated with butter.
For a printable version of this recipe, go here.