Mini Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Mini Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

This recipe was taken from Cupcake Project and I noted the changes I made when baking.

The Pumpkin Pie Filling RecipeI modified this recipe slightly from the original, because I didn't have sweetened condensed milk at home.

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (I used the Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie mix in a can, which is basically puree with the spices pre-added)
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (Here I substituted 1/3C of Evaporated Milk)
  
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (instead of adding more spices I just added 1 teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (left out)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (left out)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I did still add this)
• 2 egg whites

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold into pumpkin mixture.

Pie Crust Recipe

Here is the recipe from Kitchen Parade with Cupcake Project modifications, and my own:

• 18 T ice water (This was where the Kitchen Parade recipe said 2-4 T)
• 2 c flour
• 2 t sugar
• 1 t salt
• 2 sticks (1 c) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Stir together 1 cup of flour, sugar, and salt. With hand-held pastry blender, cut 1/2 of the butter into the four until butter is dime-sized. (I cut the pieces into tiny cubes of butter.) Add the rest of the butter the same way. Lightly stir in the remaining flour. Add water one T at a time until the dough just sticks together. (I also used 18 T of water) Wrap in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

The Streusel Topping Recipe

• 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c packed brown sugar
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 2 T butter, chilled
• 1 c chopped walnuts (I left the nuts out)

In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Blend in the cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the chopped nuts. This made almost twice as much as topping as I needed. Unless you want a ton of topping, you might consider cutting this in half.

Putting Your Mini Pies Together

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. You will not be baking at this temperature. However, you want to make your oven nice and hot. Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners. I made about 30 cup-pies with this recipe. I baked the 24 and then the extra six. If you have 3 tins at the ready you can do it all at once. Also, I expect the number you will get to vary depending on the intricacies of dough thickness and pumpkin pie filling height.

(I only have one cupcake tin, so I did 12 at a time and just spent all morning baking!)

Remove half of the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Use a 3 1/2 inch diameter circle cookie cutter to cut the dough into circles. If you don't have a cookie cutter that width, see if you have a glass you can use or you can experiment with different widths. Press the center of your circle into the bottom of a cupcake liner and work the rest into the bottom of the liner and up the sides. It should come about 3/4 of the way up the side. I experimented with different heights and found this to be the most pleasing to me, but higher or lower won't destroy anything. Repeat the same procedure with the other half of the dough.

(I used the bottom of a wine glass as my cookie cutter and it worked fine. As with anytime you are dealing with dough, make sure to have lots of flour available. If you're having trouble rolling things out, more flour! Put it on the surface you're rolling on, the rolling pin, the dough, and your hands. If things get too sticky, add more flour!)

Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the pie dough cups. Each cup should be slightly more than halfway full.

Lower the oven temp to 375. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the streusel topping over each cup-pie. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the pie is set (doesn't wiggle around when you touch it.)

The Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting Swirl

I topped each cup-pie with a small swirl of vanilla bean buttercream frosting. (You can use any buttercream frosting recipe that you're comfortable with)

I made a maple buttercream, and just substituted maple syrup for the vanilla bean paste.

**also feel free to serve these with a mini-scoop of vanilla ice cream!**