Pumpkin Tassies

Happy Halloween!  I've been pretty busy lately and I haven't gotten around to posting as often but I wanted to share this recipe because I thought it was a perfect little treat to have for a fall gathering.  I have to admit that I don't often bake with pumpkin unless I'm making pumpkin pie and this year my family's schedules have been so busy that we didn't get to have a real Thanksgiving supper!! This was a bit of a bummer for me because I happen to love turkey with all the fixings and any kind of pie for dessert.  The past few years I've made the classic pumpkin pie but considering that I skipped it this year I thought it would be nice to still make it but in miniature format!  

Considering that I live in a small apartment in the city of Montreal, I have extremely limited kitchen storage space.  I often have to second guess myself before buying any kitchen equipment to see whether I will use it enough to merit its purchase and whether I have to room to store it.  I know this may sound silly but a mini muffin pan has been on my wish list for quite some time now (over a year!) and when I saw it on sale for $5.99 I knew it was worth it and I managed to squeeze it in the storage shelf under my oven.  Thus far I've made fruit tartelettes (recipe to come) and I decided to make these pumpkin tassies for a Halloween party.  This is perfect for get-togethers or parties because there is no slicing involved and it gets eaten in two bites!  Plus, everything is cuter when it's miniaturized! 

It turns out that these bake up to have a tender pie crust and it's perfect for those who prefer more crust with their pies.  It's actually the cream cheese that helps give this crust it's tender crumb. The filling is a spiced pumpkin custard that pairs nicely with dark chocolate.  I used a chocolate ganache I had from a previous recipe but the chocolate drizzling that is suggested here should be really simple.  I felt that these were perfect for Halloween considering it was fitting in with the orange and black theme.  Otherwise these could be another great thing to add to the list of seasonal fall favourite desserts.

I cut up the dough into 24 little cubes and shaped the dough to fit into the mini muffin pan.

Then I filled each to the top with the pumpkin filling.

Once baked and cooled, I drizzled chocolate over each one.  No need for a wire rack!

Ha! I also sampled one before even taking a photo!  It's all about quality control! ;-)

Voilà!

Pumpkin Tassies with Bittersweet Chocolate Drizzle

Yield: 24 mini pies

Prep: 20 minutes, total time with chilling and baking 1 hour 45 minutes

Note: You'll need a 24 cavity mini muffin tin for this recipe.

Crust

1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened

3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

Pumpkin filling

1/2 cup (132g) pumpkin puree (canned packed pumpkin puree is fine)

1/4 cup (60g) heavy cream

1 large egg

1 teaspoon (2g) pumpkin pie spice

Topping

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted

Fleur de sel (optional)

For the crust, combine the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl.  Mix using an electric hand mixer on low speed until just combined, about 5 seconds.  Don't overwork the dough or it will greatly shrink during baking.  Mix in half the flour and a pinch of salt on low speed until crumbly.  Mix in remaining flour until well combined.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Remove dough from the refrigerator and knead one or two times.  Shape into a 6x4-inch rectangle.  Cut dough into 24 cubes.  Press each cube into a mini muffin cup.  Use your fingers to press the dough up the sides of the cups making the crust edges as tall as the top of the muffin cup.  Refrigerate filled muffin tin while you prepare the filling

In a medium bowl mix together the filling ingredients using the electric hand mixer on medium speed.  The filling will be very liquid.  Remove the muffin tin from the refrigerator and divide the filling between the crusts (I used a measuring cup to help me pour the filling).  Bake for 5 minutes at 350 F then reduce the temperature to 325 F and bake for 10 more minutes.  The tassies will be done when the filling is set, and it shouldn't jiggle when you move the pan.

Let pies cool completely in the pan.  Place a wire cooling rack over a length of wax paper.  Transfer the tassies to the wax paper.  Place melted chocolate in a zip-top bag with a very tiny hole snipped in the corner.  Pipe chocolate onto the tops of the pies in three to four quick passes over each pie.  Top with fleur de sel if desired just before serving.

Source: slightly adapted from Sprinkle Bakes and originally from Cooks.com