Make these Mini Pumpkin Pies this Fall

These mini pumpkin pies are the perfect individual treat for fall! They’re simple, sweet and super delicious. Plus, they’re really easy to make thanks to the magic of store-bought pie crusts.

These little pumpkin pies have been something I’ve wanted to try for months now. After all, with a regular pumpkin pie it’s so easy to have a second slice! But with these, they’re so delicious that one is plenty. They’re so delicate too – eating one makes you feel rather posh! You Anglophiles – like I am – will love having these with afternoon tea since they’re like all of those little cakes that you get with afternoon tea – these are just a more American and fall-friendly version!

As you can probably tell, I’m a massive pumpkin pie fan. I mean, who isn’t? They’re so flavorful and lightly sweet yet spiced – and I love the slight caramel flavor that the brown sugar gives them!

The best thing about these mini pumpkin pies is the time involved in making them. Big pumpkin pies take so long to bake – and I’m not the most patient! But these babies bake in around 20 minutes – so you can have them ready and on the table in just 35 minutes!

Even if you’re not a massive dessert fan, you’re sure to like this one. The spice blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves might be a common one when it comes to pumpkin pie, but they’re classic for a good reason – they’re incredible!

In fact, the spices are so good that as the pies bake, the smell permeates your whole house – a bit like a tasty pumpkin pie candle! It’s the scent that lets you know it’s fall in my household – when I make these pies, everyone knows about it!

However, the absolute best thing about this recipe is the number of mini pumpkin pies that it makes – 21! That means that you’ll have plenty of pies to share with family and friends. After all, why not get in the Christmas spirit a bit early and share? One batch is far too many for me alone!

Have you ever wondered why we eat pumpkin pie at thanksgiving? I know I have plenty of times. So, I decided to do some reading and found this article which answered the question perfectly!

What do I need to make these mini pumpkin pies?

You only need a handful of ingredients here – 8 to be exact! That means that actually, the cost per serving of this recipe is amazingly low!

You just need:

• A pack of ready-to-bake pie crusts. Ideally a good quality pack since you’ll want a lovely and buttery, flaky crust for your pies.
• A can of pumpkin puree. Not pumpkin pie filling. More about that below.
• Evaporated milk
• Brown sugar
• Large eggs. If you can’t eat eggs then you can usually replace them with flax or chia eggs, or even 4 tbsp of plain, natural yogurt per large egg. However, this recipe hasn’t been tested with these substitutions so I cannot guarantee that they’ll work well.
• Cinnamon, ground
• Nutmeg, ground
• Cloves, ground

The reason this recipe doesn’t use canned pumpkin pie filling is so that you can control the flavors in the filling – it’s important to be able to add the spices yourself so that you can control the strength. If you’d like to learn more about the difference, then read this article – it explains it brilliantly.

In fact, when it comes to the spices, you can even grind your own! I’d recommend doing that in either a spice grinder or coffee grinder – you could try to do it with a mortar and pestle, but it would probably take rather a long time and a lot of effort!

The bonus with grinding your own spices is that they’ll be more flavorful as they’ll be fresh. Once ground, spices lose their flavor relatively quickly – especially when exposed to daylight or not kept in an airtight container. That’s why spices have a use-by date.

However, the rule of thumb is generally that anything older than a year should be replaced as the use-by dates are rather lengthy and the spices will typically have lost most of their flavor by then.

How do I make this recipe?

The method here is really ridiculously simple!

1. Preheat the oven and spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Cut the pie crust into circles using the lid of a jar and place the circles in the muffin tin. Re-knead and roll out leftover dough if necessary.
3. Mix the ingredients for the pie filling until smooth and spoon it evenly into the pie shells.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature and bake for a further 10-12 minutes or until the filling is set.
5. Allow to cool before removing from the muffin tin.
6. Serve, adding whipped cream if you like.

See? Ridiculously easy – and a lot less difficult than one large pie!

By the way – try them sprinkled with a little more cinnamon or the spice mix the recipe uses. It gives them an extra kick.

5 from 2 votes

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Mini Pumpkin Pies

These mini pumpkin pies are the perfect individual treat for fall! They’re simple, sweet and super delicious. Plus, they’re really easy to make thanks to the magic of store-bought pie crusts.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword pie, pumpkin pie

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes

Cool 15 minutes

Total Time 52 minutes

Servings 21 pies

Ingredients

• 15 oz package ready-to-bake pie crusts
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie filling
• 12 oz evaporated milk
• 3/4 c, brown sugar
• 2 eggs large
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Topping

• whipped cream if desired
• ground cinnamon if desired

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F and spray a 24-cup mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Cut pie crust out into circles using a wide-mouth jar lid. Push pie circles down into the muffin cups. If needed, gently knead and roll out any extra dough left from the rings to make a total of 21 circles.

3. Mix pumpkin pie filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Divide filling among the mini pie shells.

4. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake an additional 10-12 minutes, until pie filling is just set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Remove from oven and cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from muffin tin and topping with whipped cream. Garnish with some ground cinnamon, if desired, and enjoy!

What should I make next?

• Looking for more pumpkin desserts? These pumpkin donuts are just incredible – and I mention a lot of other brilliant recipes in the post!
• Or, why not try my paleo pumpkin spice pancakes – you can even make them keto!
• But if you’re looking for Thanksgiving dessert ideas, then this post has 50 brilliant ones ranging from pies to shortbread to mousse!
• Just hungry for pie? Try this banana cream pie!