Pumpkin & Goat Cheese Mini-Pies {SRC Post}

This is a Secret Recipe Club post. If you haven’t heard of the Secret Recipe Club, it’s made up of a group of food bloggers. Each month every blogger in the club is “assigned” another participating food blogger to make a recipe from. You choose any recipe from the blog you are assigned, make or bake it, and blog about it, then everyone in your group posts their “secret recipes” on the same date and time. It’s really quite fun.

This month I was assigned Art from my Table. I was immediately intrigued by the name of the blog and excited to dig into Chellie’s recipes. She has such a variety of things to choose from! It took me a while to figure out what to make, but once I saw these little tarts, I was totally hooked.

I don’t make pastries or pies very often … wait, no, that’s not true … I don’t make pies or pastries AT ALL. Unless my dad is around to make the crust for me. I have a huge crust-phobia. But pumpkin, sage, and goat cheese? In a cute little bite? Seriously. That was totally something I had to try. And I really love that I can freeze the dough (and filling) for later, so I don’t have to make them all at once. I have instant impressive appetizers just waiting in my freezer! Next time I will crimp the edges better, though, because most of them opened up like an oyster shell peeking out at you. The crust turned out nice and flaky and tender, though … what was I so afraid of?

Pumpkin & Goat Cheese Mini-Pies

Recipe from Art from my Table

For the Dough:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
• 1 egg beaten
• 3 tbs heavy cream or yogurt (more if needed … I used plain lowfat yogurt)

Directions:

1. Place flour, salt and butter in a big bowl. Work with your fingertips or with a pastry blender ‘til the mixture resembles coarse meal. You want to keep some visible pieces of butter
2. Beat together egg and 3 tbsp of cream. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients.
3. Using your fingertips, mix them smoothly by making circular movements. Don’t knead the dough.
4. Keep mixing. The dough should come together quickly and if it doesn’t happen, add one more tablespoon of yogurt. (I did.) It was still crumbly, though, but it did form okay into a ball.
5. Don’t worry about spots, visible pieces of butter and stripes of yogurt; they are a good sign. Press to form a ball, cover and keep in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Note: You can keep this dough in the freezer for about a month. Just place it in the fridge and let it defrost overnight before using.

For the filling:

How to assemble the little pies:

1. Preheat oven to 350F˚.
2. Place dough in a floured surface and roll it out into a 1/8 inch thin layer. Using a 4 inch round cookie cutter cut the dough into circles. Place the pumpkin filling in the center of the circle, crumble or place a bit of cheese on top of the pumpkin filling and fold the dough over into a semicircle.
3. Crimp down the edges and arrange in a baking sheet. Keep doing the same process until the dough is gone (or till you get tired of making them and then just freeze the rest of the dough and filling in separate containers for another time). It should make about 24 little pies.
4. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame and poppy seeds, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until golden in color.

This recipe was also shared at Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange, Midweek Fiesta, and Full Plate Thursday.