Mini Chocolate Pumpkin Pies
Last year I made mini pumpkin pies… or maybe they should be called pumpkin tartlets, for the kindergarten Thanksgiving pot luck. Either way, we loved these cute little pies so much that I had to make them again. They are easy to make and I love that they don’t have any sort of canned condensed milk, just real ingredients like cream. When I spotted Heather Christo’s gorgeous Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, I knew I had to add chocolate to these babies. Chocolate and pumpkin is such a fantastic combination – I don’t know why it’s not more common!
In a mini tart or pie pan, the crusts do not need to be par-baked. I use and adore this Tartlet Baking Set from Williams-Sonoma. If you can’t get to Williams-Sonoma you could try this one on Amazon. And then you may also want a tamper to press the dough down into the pan. The only change to the original recipe was to transfer about 1/3 of the batter to another bowl and whisk in about 1/4 cup cacao powder.
Once the pies are puffed up and the crusts are golden, they’re ready! We made some hearts and some swirls, I’m not sure which I like better.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Yield: 24 mini pies
Ingredients
- 2 (10-inch) prepared pie dough (homemade or store bought)
- 1 (15-oz.) can canned solid-pack pumpkin (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 2 cups freshly whipped cream, for serving
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Use a round or scalloped cookie cutter that is large enough to cover the bottom and sides of pan wells, a 3 to 3 1/2 inch cutter should be perfect for a regular sized muffin pan. Use a smaller cutter if using a mini muffin tin. Cut out 12 circles and press into a nonstick muffin or tartlet pan, or 24 smaller circles if using a mini muffin tin. I use this pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, cream, milk, eggs, sugar, spices, and salt.
- Transfer about 1/3 of the pumpkin mixture to another medium bowl. Whisk in the cacao.
- Carefully fill the dough 2/3 of the way to the top with the regular pumpkin mixture. Spoon blobs of the chocolate mixture on top and swirl with a toothpick. Pies can be filled all the way to the top, as they will slightly puff up but will sink down again once they have cooled.
- Bake pies until crust is golden brown and pies are set and puffed. My tartlets took about 30 minutes. Pies made in a mini muffin tin will take about 12 minutes and thicker pies made in a regular muffin tin could take 45 minutes. Cool, carefully remove from pans, and store covered in the refrigerator.
- Pipe or dollop whipped cream on top and serve!
