Mini Mascarpone Pumpkin Pies

 I've been wanting to make mini pumpkin pies for a while and after  picking up a tub of mascarpone at a great price (that stuff is super expensive!) and looking for inspiration on what to do with it I stumbled upon this recipe which is fantastic.

For the crust I used my trusty recipe, pie pastry is the easiest thing in the world to do, if you're not making your own crust I HIGHLY recommend it.  There is no waiting around for butter to thaw or anything, it's just cold butter right out of the fridge, cut it into small cubes, assemble your ingredients and roll up your sleeves. 

Pie Pastry: 

- 1 cup cold butter cut into small cubes using a knife. 

Put the butter in a large bowl. 

In another bowl mix: 

- 2 1/2 cups flour

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/8 tsp baking powder (you can leave this out if you want a less "fluffy" pastry) 

Now assemble the wet ingredients: 

- 2 tbsp lemon juice (some people use vinegar too, I haven't tried it) 

- 1/4 cup ice water (or mix half milk in there, or do full cold milk, it yields a more tender crust)

Have another 1/4 cup of liquid on standby because you may need more and only use up to 1/2 cup in full of liquid. 

Add the flour mix to the butter and work with hands until mixture resembles wet sand or butter is incorporated well and no more than a small pie size. 

Add liquid and press dough together with hands and press down in the bowl to form a "dough" .. mold it into a patty and wrap with plastic. 

Set in the fridge until ready to use.  Pastry freezes perfectly too!  Any leftovers just wrap it well in plastic or put it in a zip lock bag and throw it in the freezer for future use. 

Filling: 

This recipe makes enough for 1 large pumpkin pie but I had alot of filling left when making the small pies so maybe half the recipe for the filling, or double the pastry if you want to make 2 muffin pans of mini pies (24) 

filling

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese

Beat pumpkin and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and next 7 ingredients and beat until blended. Add mascarpone cheese and beat just until mixture is smooth. Transfer filling to prepared crust.

For instructions on filling the cupcake tins with pie crust refer to my older mini cherry pies post here with full photo sequence on how I went about it.

There is no need to cover the pies so just chill the pan with pastry cups for 10 minutes or so in the freezer and then fill with pie filling and bake.  

I baked at 350-375ish until pastry was done, about 30 minutes or so. 

For non pumpkin lovers I threw some little applies pies in between ^_^

Enjoy!