Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Hand Pies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze

We did dinner backwards last night. Dessert first and then the meal. And you know what, I never regret it when I do that. :-) Just for the sake of normalcy though, I'll put the dinner recipe first and the dessert one second. We had a very pumpkin night tonight.


I'm not going to lie, both of these recipes were really good and I think you should make them both. Austin said the soup was his favorite soup he's ever had. It tastes really earthy and rustic, but not extremely pumpkin-y and definitely not sweet if you're worried about that. The hand pies were incredible (I think) and I definitely had 3 last night. Aside from just 3 tbsp butter spread and a little cheese in the soup and a little sugar and butter (but not too much when you really think about it) in the hand pies, these recipes were pretty healthy! And good. So, so good!


Both of these recipes call for pumpkin puree and the pumpkin soup calls for pumpkin stock. You could buy it at a store or if you're feeling a little adventurous or want to be cheap/have fun with it, you could make your own. Don't know how? Read this! Warning: If you make either of these recipes, your house will smell freaking wonderful. Especially if you make the hand pies!


Pumpkin Soup
(makes about 4-5 servings depending on how much you eat)


What you need
3 Tbsp butter or spread
3 large garlic cloves
1/2 a medium onion or about 2 Tbsp minced onion flakes
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. corriander
4 Tbps. flour
2 1/2 c. pumpkin stock (want to make your own? Click here.
1 c. water
1 1/2 c. already cooked brown rice
1 1/2 c. cooked lentils
1/2-3/4 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. milk (I used skim and it worked great!)
whole wheat bread
parmesan cheese


What you do
In a large pot, melt the butter or butter spread over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5-10 minutes or until very fragrant and translucent. (If you're using minced onion flakes instead of a real onion, just add them in with the garlic and herbs). Add the garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, cumin and coriander and cook for about a minute (garlic cooks very fast and will burn easily, so a minute is usually good). Whisk the flour into the butter mixture to form a rue. Whisk in pumpkin stock and water until combined with the butter/flour/herb rue. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Whisk in the rice, lentils and pumpkin puree just until puree is combined. Turn heat to low and let simmer for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in milk until combined and let stand for about 3 minutes to thicken.

Ladle the soup into bowls, break up a piece of whole wheat bread into large chunks and scatter over the top of soup, sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the soup and bread in each bowl and stick under the broiler for a minute or two or in the microwave for about 30 seconds or until cheese is almost melted (french onion soup style, but better in my opinion). MMMmmm good. And pretty good for you too!


**Note: I used rice and lentils because I had them left over in the fridge, but use whatever you like or need to use up. Beans would be good, so would fresh or frozen veggies. Make it your own.**


Pumpkin Hand Pies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze
(makes about 12 hand pies)


What you need
For the pie crust
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. all-purpose flour (plus more for the counter when you roll out the dough later)
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) cold butter sliced (I cut my butter into thin slices then wrapped it back up in the packaging and threw it in the freezer the day before, but you could do this just a couple hours in advance or use it straight out of the fridge)
5 Tbsp. ice water or very cold milk
1 Tbsp. melted butter or butter spread for brushing on the pastry before putting it in the oven

For the filling

2 c. sweet potato puree

1 large egg yolk

1/4-1/3 c. packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 c. but Austin said it wasn't quite sweet enough. Really just depends how sweet you like your desserts)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

For the glaze

6 tsp. confectioner's sugar

2 or 3 tsp cinnamon (depending how much spice you like)

Dash of allspice (maybe about 1/4 tsp.)

1/2 tsp. chili powder

4 tsp. water

2 tsp. maple syrup

What you do
For the pie crust
In a large bowl stir the salt, sugar and both flours. Take the butter out of the freezer or fridge and cut it in with a pastry cutter. (Since I don't have one of those lovely gadgets, I used a fork and basically mashed and stirred the butter slices into the flour mixture just until the largest pieces of butter were about pea-sized.) Pour milk or ice water straight out of the fridge over the mixture a tablespoon at a time stirring it in with your fork or spoon until the mixture looks kind of dough-y. At this point take cut a piece of plastic wrap big enough to wrap up your dough in and set it on the counter. Using your hands, press dough into a disk JUST until it sticks together. (Do not over work or knead with your hands for long at all because if your hands warm up the butter pieces and they melt, your dough will not be flaky when baked.) Put the disk in the middle of the plastic, wrap up and stick in the fridge for about 30 minutes or longer if you need to.


For the filling
Preheat oven to 375F. Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined. Take pastry dough out of fridge after at least 30 minutes and put on a well-floured work surface. This is important because if you don't put down enough flour it will for sure stick to the counter when you roll it out which is no good and a huge pain in the butt. Using a rolling pin (not your hands!!) roll out dough until it's super thin (about 1/8 inch thick). Using a glass or round cookie/pastry cutter, cut circles out of the dough. The cup I used was about 3 inches in diameter. 3-4 inches in diameter is probably ideal.

Place 1 1/2-2 Tbsp. in the middle of one pastry circle cut-out. Top with another pastry circle and press down lightly on the edges with the tines of a fork until the two circles and joined. Repeat with all the other circles. Form the remaining dough into a ball, and repeat the rolling out, cutting out, filling and joining process again until dough is used up. Place all your little hand pies on a very well greased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter to make them extra crispy.

Bake at 375F. I would check them after 20 minutes, but mine took about 25. They are done when the pastry is just golden and a little crispy on the edges and filling is cooked through.


For the glaze
While the hand pies are in the oven, stir together the confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, all spice and chili powder. (If you don't like a lot of spice, feel free to vary the amounts of cinnamon, allspice and chili powder but just make sure you keep the same ratio of dry ingredients to liquid). Add the water, stirring after adding each tsp. Stir in maple syrup. After taking hand pies out of the oven, let them sit for a couple minutes then drizzle (or spoon like I did) the glaze over the top. Allow to set for another few minutes and enjoy! Maybe even serve with a little vanilla ice cream!

A little blurry (sorry...my camera is not so good...I really have no excuse) but so cute and so yummy!