Mini Pumpkin Pies

Mini Pumpkin Pies are easy to make and they bake in less time than a traditional pumpkin pie. These mini pumpkin pies are made with a buttery, flaky crust, and a rich, smooth, perfectly spiced pumpkin pie filling. These are great for your Thanksgiving table. I guarantee everyone will love the self serve, adorable mini pumpkin pies.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away, because I can’t! I remember as a kid all of the adults telling me that once you’re an adult the days and years just fly by. I didn’t understand at the time, because to me, time seemed to go so slow. I would wait patiently, okay maybe impatiently, for Santa to come every year, and those days just seemed to go on forever.

Anyways, Thanksgiving is my favorite time to enjoy a good pumpkin pie. I honestly don’t eat pumpkin pie any other time of the year. But, every year at Thanksgiving, I have to have a piece of pumpkin pie. It’s just tradition and my meal would not be complete without it.

These mini pumpkin pies are adorable and just so fun to serve at the Thanksgiving table. They’re great, because they are self serve, too. So, you can set up a dessert buffet ahead of time and not have to worry about slicing a pie and getting even more dishes dirty. Oh, and did I mention you can make these pumpkin pies ahead of time, because you can! They should be good for up to 5 days, covered in your refrigerator. Alright, enough chatting, it’s time to get to the baking!

The details

Making the pie crust

Okay, if you want to go all out and make your own pie crust for this pumpkin pie recipe, you certainly can and I’ve included a recipe for it below. However, if you want to just make things easy and use store bought, I’m not going to judge you. Store bought pie dough is just as good!

If you choose to make your own pie dough, you’ll need to make this first. Pie dough needs a good 2 hours to chill in the fridge. This is because the butter in the pie crust needs to be COLD. If it is not cold, the pie dough has a tendency to shrink and not maintain its shape.

To make the pie dough, you’ll add the dry ingredients to a large bowl, then add the cold butter and shortening. Use a fork or a pastry knife to cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture is in pea-sized bits.

Next you’ll add in the cold water and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms small balls. Now, it’s time for the fun part. Use your hands to gently knead the dough on a floured surface and form a dough ball. Divide the dough in half, flatten each into a disc, then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or up to a few days ahead.

Make the pumpkin pie filling

The pumpkin pie filling for these mini pumpkin pies is as easy as pie, literally! All you have to do is add all ingredients to a bowl, then whisk to combine.

assemble the mini pumpkin pies

Roll out your homemade pie dough, if you chose to use it into a 12-inch circle. If you used store bought, just unroll the dough. Use a 4-inch circle cookie cutter and cut 12 pieces of pie dough. You may need both pieces of pie dough to get enough pieces for the mini pumpkin pies.

Place the pie dough circles in a lightly greased 12-count muffin tin. Gently press down to fit into the muffin tin cavity. It’s okay if it rips. Just grab a piece of extra pie dough and patch the holes.

Fill the mini pumpkin pie shells with the pumpkin pie filling, all the way to the top. You can add a direction to the top of the filling if you desire, or just bake as is. I added a leaf decoration to the top of mine. To make these, just cut a leaf shape, then use a knife to make a line down the center of the pie dough. Use a fork or a knife to make lines on each side of the center line of the pie dough. These are the “veins” of the leaf. Simple as that. Then, place the leaf on top of the filling.

Baking

If you added a decoration to the top of the mini pumpkin pies, brush the decoration with egg wash. This will help them become a nice golden brown color. Bake these in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the pie crust is golden brown around the edges.

Serving

Allow the mini pumpkin pies to fully cool before serving. Top with whipped cream just before serving and a light sprinkle of ground cinnamon. Enjoy!

If you make these mini pumpkin pies, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. I always love hearing your feedback! Also, make sure you follow me on instagram and youtube for more fun behind the scenes and the full baking video for these.

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