Crust:
400g all purpose flour
200g dairy free butter
115g granulated sugar
0.5 tsp fine table salt
60g cold water
Filling:
75g full fat coconut milk (from the can)
250g pumpkin puree (I simply blended some steamed butternut squash)
10g corn starch
50g brown sugar
50g granulated sugar
1/4tsp nutmeg
1tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp ginger
1/4tsp cloves
A pinch fine table salt
10g coconut oil
Extra ingredients:
Vegan whipping cream
Cinnamon for decor
1tbsp butter + 1tbsp maple syrup
Method:
To make the dough; add the flour, sugar and salt to a bowl and give it a good whisk. Add chunks of dairy free butter and either pinch them with your fingers or use a pastry cutter to slice it into small chunks through the flour. The chunks should be about pea sized and evenly distributed throughout the dry mixture. Then, gradually add your ice cold water while carefully kneading/stirring until it begins to come together. You may need to add a bit more water as you go, this will vary depending on the humidity in your kitchen, the flour and the butter you’re using. Add an extra teaspoon of water at a time if needed, and you'll know it's done once it comes together as one shaggy dough that you can carefully knead into a disc. Do not knead too much as you want to keep the chunks of butter intact. This will give you that flaky pie crust we're looking for!
Divide it into two pieces, one with ⅔ of the total, and one with ⅓ of the total dough. Wrap each piece in cling film and chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge. Once rested, roll out the largest piece of chilled pie dough until about 0,25-0,5cm thick - using lots of flour to prevent it from sticking. Use a large cookie cutter, approx 11cm in diameter, to slice out 10-11 rounds of dough. Place the rounds into a muffin tray, making sure they are neatly tucked into the edges and fairly evenly distributed all the way around (You will need to use your fingers to press them out into the tin a bit here). Place the muffin tray in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Make your pumpkin pie filling by adding all ingredients to a blender and blending until smooth. Preheat your oven to 180C. Once the dough is rested, add about 3tbsp of filling to each mini pie crust, making sure not to fill it up more than ⅔ of the way up. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the crusts are golden around the edges. Once baked, leave the oven on but set the tray of pies aside on a wire rack to cool. Roll out the final ⅓ of the pie crust until about 0,5cm thick and use a sharp knife (or cookie cutters) to cut out leaves or other decorative shapes. Lay them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush with a mix of 1 tbsp melted butter and 1tbsp maple syrup. Bake at 180C for 10-15 min until golden brown. Once the pies have cooled a bit you can use a small knife or offset spatula to carefully remove from the tray and cool completely on a wire rack. Once completely cooled, add whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon and one of your freshly baked decorative leaves. Enjoy!
NOTE: There should be enough filling for about 10-11 pies in this recipe. If you wish to make more pies and skip the decoration on top feel free to double the measurements for the filling, and use all of the dough to make pie crusts.
