Kricket Cakes

I volunteered to make a ‘finger-food’ dessert for a work fundraiser and immediately thereafter, my mind went blank… what kind of ‘finger-food’ dessert could I make? All I could think of was brownies or cookies… boring! So, I started thinking ‘Fall’ and, of course, pumpkin came to mind. But mini pumpkin pies? That sounds kinda crazy! Believe it or not, a recipe was hard to find! I had to piece together a couple of different recipes from the internet. One by R.Lynn on Recipezaar.com is titled ‘Pecan Pumpkin Tartlets’ and the other is ‘Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie’ from Culinary.net. This recipe makes 24 mini pies.

I topped mine with a simple half pecan, but I think they would be just splendid with a dollup of fresh whipped cream! I couldn’t risk it since they need to sit out for a half a day… and it might be sunny!

For the Crusts:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
• up to 4 tablespoons cold water

For the Pies:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 24 whole pecan halves

To Make the Crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Cut in shortening with pastry cutter or knives until mixture is crumbly.
4. Sprinkle with just enough water to hold dough together.
5. Shape dough into a ball and then roll out to 1/8 thickness.
6. Use a round cookie cutter or glass, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter to cut out circles of dough.
7. Place circles in mini muffin pan and crimp edges.

To Make the Pies:

1. Beat the egg with a whisk in a medium bowl.
2. Add the pumpkin, milk, sugar, flour, lemon peel, spice, vanill and salt and whisk until well combined.
3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of misture into each dough lined cup.
4. Place a pecan half on top of each bite.
5. Bake 30 minutes.
6. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes.

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 8:14 pm and is filed under Pies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.