Are you looking for a few new baking ideas for this year’s Halloween party? Hand pies are easy to make and need little decorating to make them look fun and delicious! Happy Halloween!
Halloween Themed Mini Hand Pie Recipes
PREPARATION TIME 2 to 3 hrs YIELDS 6 hand pies per shape
Equipment
2 baking sheets, pastry cutter, pastry brush, small bowls, rolling pin, plastic wrap, measuring cup, knife, ice, teaspoon, large mixing bowl, tablespoon, parchment paper, peeler, large Halloween shapes, small saucepan, 3 ramekins, whisk
Ingredients
Pie Crust
2 cups butter, cold
5 cups pastry flour
½ to 1 cup of buttermilk
2 tsp vinegar
Mummy filling
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Edible beads, small white
1 Tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
Ghost filling
2 cups fresh blueberries
Edible beads, small black
1 ½ tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 ½ tsp water
2 tsp cornstarch
½ cup icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp milk
1 tsp light corn syrup
Pumpkin filling
4 cups apples, peeled and diced
4 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp cornstarch
Orange food colouring
1 egg yolk
Witch Finger filling
¾ cup raspberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp cornstarch
6 almonds, slivers or whole
Green food colouring
1 egg yolk
Directions
Step 1
Place a handful of ice into a small bowl with half of a cup of water. With a peeler, shave butter into the bowl of ice water. Remove the shaved butter from the ice water and add it to the flour in a large bowl. Distribute butter with a pastry cutter to avoid melting the butter with warm hands; incorporate 2 tablespoons at a time of the buttermilk while mixing. And enough buttermilk until the dough binds together. Then finally, add the vinegar. Form dough into two balls for easy handling. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 to 2 hours to allow the dough to rest.
Step 2
Use large Halloween shapes, or cut the desired shapes from the parchment paper. 12 pumpkins, 12 ghosts. The mummies and fingers are made without forms. Set aside.
Step 3
In a saucepan, combine apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. On medium-high heat, as the apples come to a boil, whisk in the cornstarch. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl. Let cool.
Step 4
In a saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar, water and lemon juice. On medium-high heat, as the combination begins to boil, gently whisk in the cornstarch. When the mixture begins to boil again, turn the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl. Let cool. Repeat with raspberries.
Step 5
Preheat the oven to 375℉. Unwrap the dough onto a clean and lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to approximately ⅛ of an inch in thickness. After cutting out each design, stack, cover loosely with plastic and refrigerate until ready to fill. Repeat for each design. Note that the witch fingers will be cutouts of 6 - 2 ½ inch x 4-inch rectangles. The mummies will need 6 - 4 x 4-inch squares.
Step 6
Fill 6 pumpkin shapes with 2 tablespoons of apple filling. Set the other half of the cutout on top and pinch the edges together with the tip of a fork around the entire perimeter of each pumpkin. In a ramekin, mix egg yolk and a couple of drops of orange food colouring. Use the pastry brush to apply the mixture evenly over each pumpkin, facing up. With a paring knife, create a face by cutting away the pastry to reveal the apple mixture beneath. Set 8 pumpkin hand pies on the parchment-covered baking sheet and place in the refrigerator until all shapes are filled and ready to bake.
Step 7
Fill 6 ghost shapes with 1 tablespoon of blueberry filling. Set the other half of the cutout on top and pinch the edges together with fingertips securely around the entire perimeter of each ghost. Set the filled hand pies onto the baking sheet and return them to the refrigerator.
Step 8 - Finger
Fill the rectangular pieces with 1 ½ teaspoons of raspberry. Tuck the ends in first and then roll the dough into a cylinder, pinching the seam to seal it underneath. Delicately squeeze the cylinder into something that resembles a finger, rounding the tip and using a paring knife to gently mark the dough for knuckle features. Stick an almond or almond slice securely into the dough at the end of each finger. In a ramekin, mix egg yolk with one drop of green food colouring and brush each finger. Refrigerate on the baking sheet.
Step 9 - Mummy
With a paring knife, make equal cuts ⅛ to ¼ of an inch wide horizontally, one-quarter of the width on both sides. Place 3 teaspoons of chocolate chips down the centre of all 6, fold the two ends in and randomly criss-cross the strip over the top to create the mummy design. In a ramekin, mix egg yolk, then brush the wash over the top without soaking the chocolate. Set the mummies on the baking sheet and bake all hand pies for approximately 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Step 10
In a small mixing bowl, mix by hand, combine 1 teaspoon milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon light corn syrup, and ½ cup icing sugar, for the ghosts. Sprinkle the leftover sugar over the mummies before cooling. Let cool and add the white bead eyes. When cooled, dip one side of each ghost into the icing and apply black beads for the eyes and mouth.
Now they’re ready for your little monsters to devour.