Autumn is in full swing, and in accordance with October’s culinary traditions, I bring you a new recipe celebrating the humble pumpkin (side note: this is also what I’d name my coffee shop, if I ever get around to opening one someday. It would be connected to my plant nursery, The Squeaky Barrow. I have…a lot of daydreams about this.)
But before I dive into these savory pumpkin and chevre hand pies, I have an exciting event to share with you all! I’m opening up my homestead and hosting a winter weekend workshop this December 6th + 7th, where we’ll dive into photography, styling, and enjoy eating and shooting beautiful and festive holiday dishes. If you’ve followed tis blog for a bit, you know how much I love my wintery baked goods!) We’ll also make our own seasonal wall hangings with winter florals and evergreens, and have a cozy tea time by the fire after each workshop day ends. You can read more about the schedule + join me here. I’d love to host you!
As for the recipe, it’s a savory pastry, which is my favorite kind. The dough is herby and buttery and garlicky, and the filling is creamy and full of that comforting pumpkin flavor, with the delicious tang of chevre. If you don’t like goat cheese (my Greek heart weeps for you) you can easily substitute ricotta or cream cheese for a more mild version. The maple leaf shapes were made with a cookie cutter, and the rest I just drew leaf shapes on paper and then cut them out and traced them with a knife on the rolled out dough. But they sell lots of leaf cookie cutter packs online if the idea of hand-drawing them seems risky. The maple leaf cookie cutter I used was 3 3/4″ long, and I wouldn’t go much shorter than that because you need room for the filling.
Enjoy all this pumpkin and chevre hand pie goodness, my friends, and I’ll be back again next month with another cozy recipe to share with you all!
Savory Pumpkin and Chevre Hand Pies
This delicious pastry is full of autumn flavor, with creamy tangy chevre and an herby galicky pumpkin filling.
Ingredients
Herb + Garlic Crust
- 1 egg cold
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 6 to 7 tablespoons ice water
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch cream of tartar
- 1 cup unsalted butter cold and hard cut into tablespoons
Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ of a small onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 cup pumpkin or butternut squash puree
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 ounces goat cheese aka chevre, crumbled by hand
Assembly
- 1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Herb + Garlic Crust
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Whisk the egg with vinegar and 3 tablespoons of ice water and set aside. Follow instructions below, depending on if you want to make the crust by hand, or if you want to use a food processor.
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MANUAL METHOD: Mix together the flour, sugar, thyme, salt, garlic powder, and cream of tartar in a large wide bowl. Using a box grater, grate the butter using the large hole setting of the grater above the bowl, stopping to stir with a fork and coat the butter bits in the flour mixture every 10 seconds or so. When all the butter is in, pinch the mixture together with your fingertips until it resembles the texture of damp sand. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing it with a fork, until the dough just holds together when you squeeze a fistful of it in your hand.
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FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD: Cut the butter into individual tablespoons and set aside. Place the flour, sugar, salt, sage, onion powder, and cream of tartar in the food processor and pulse a few times to mix together. Add the slices of butter and pulse until the butter is reduced to roughly pea-sized pieces. Run the machine while you add the egg mixture, letting it blend for 5 seconds after the liquid is added. Do NOT overmix. Add the remaining ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing as you add it, until the dough just holds together. It shouldn't be too wet and sticky, nor should it be super crumbly. Wrap in beeswrap or plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Filling
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Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until transparent and lightly golden around the edges, stirring every few minutes. Add the pumpkin puree, salt, and spices and stir to combine. Cook to evaporate out some of the moisture from the pumpkin, about 5 to 7 minutes more, stirring every couple minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator to cool for an hour. Stir in crumbled goat cheese.
Assembly
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough until it is ⅛-inch thick. Use a leaf-shaped cookie cutter to cut out various leaf shapes (alternatively, you can draw a leaf shape on a piece of paper, cut it out, and use it as a tracing to hand-cut the lead shapes out with a knife).
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Brush the borders of the leaves with the egg wash (this will help them form a tight seal later on). Use a spoon to scoop some of the filling into the center of half of the leaf cut-outs. The remaining leaves need to remain “blank” so that they can be the top of the hand pie. Spread the filling out to keep it relatively flat (if it’s domed it will be harder to affix the top layer of the leaf dough), but make sure to leave a border of empty space around the edges.
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Cut some small vent slits into a blank leaf, placing them where the leaf’s veins might be, and then place the blank leaf on top of the filling leaf. Press down around the edges to seal them together. Place them on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!
