Pumpkin Pasties And A Little Bit Of Magic
We had a magical snow day here in Portland a few days back. I absolutely love when it snows in the city, everything becomes quiet and still, even in it's brevity there is so much beauty. The boys were beaming as they jumped into their snow bibs and headed outside to make snow angels and started to construct snow forts. Our sweet yellow lab was sifting through the snow with her pink nose acting like the fifteen year old puppy that she is. School canceled, no clients for the day it seemed like a perfectly good day to not take down the Christmas tree and make mischief with my kids.
Once the boys were ready to warm up and have hot cocoa, we mapped out our afternoon, which included making something out of their new Harry Potter cookbook. My sons love to help me in the kitchen, they want to whip, stir, crack eggs, just about anything you can imagine. There are times when I just want to quickly bust something out and my five year old will ask to help, I'll mention "momma just needs to do this real quick" his reply, " momma if we work on it together it will go faster." In me head I'm thinking "yes, in theory it will." In my heart I'm thinking "what a lucky mom I am, and slow the heck down Lisa." This will be my mantra for a long time, I'm so thankful I have these little fellas to keep me on course to living a life of mindfulness. Watching them work at mixing and rolling out the dough and with great heavy handedness sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on top, they looked like conductors leading an orchestra. It's with their ease of living in the moment and magic we were able to create a little our own with these pumpkin pasties.
I found this cookbook at Christmas and thought the boys might enjoy it. They absolutely love Harry Potter and this book ended up being a huge hit! My oldest son started rapping off all the things he remembered from the storey, licorice wands, birthday cakes and pumpkin pasties (what they enjoy on the train to Hogwarts). So we made our first batch of pumpkin pasties and we were completely smitten with the entire process. As we shared these at the table a conversation insued about what the train ride would have been like and how fun would it be if they could really go to Hogwarts. I'm happy to share with you Soren and Rorik's pumpkin pasties, replete with handmade tickets to board the Hogwarts Express! Hopefully you can enjoy these and create a little magic of your own.
XO
Lisa
Pumpkin Pasties, adapted from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
Pastry
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into chunks
4-6 tablespoons ice water
Filling
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg, plus a pinch
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon , plus a pinch
Preparation
Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse about 15 times until the mixture resembles a coarse yellow meal, with no powdery bits remaining.
Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of cold water to the mixture. Toss the mixture together with a spatula until it starts clumping together. If it's to dry, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time. Gather dough into a ball and pat it into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for atleast an hour.
Combine the pumpkin, sugar and spices in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Use a saucer to cut out 6 inch circles. Mix together tablespoon of sugar and pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each circle of dough. Moisten the edges with water, fold the dough over the filling, and crimp with a fork to seal the edges. Sprinkle with cinnamon and spice mixture. Cut slits to make vents. Bake on a ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until browned.