September #Baketogether Party--Pumpkin Spice Latte Pop’em Tarts

Hello #baketogether Party!  As you may know, I can be counted on to show up at pretty much any party where I am welcome–and even some where I’m not, which is a story for another day! And, as usual, I am arriving on the cusp of being fashionably late, one day left to post and still be in the running to win Abby’s latest book!

This month, Abby set out as a template a lovely hand pie with a classic apple cinnamon filling wrapped in an amazing browned-butter pastry crust.  This pastry is destined to become a regular part of my baking repertoire–right along with the famous truffle tart and the easy classic boule(baking powder! who knew?!)

I tweaked Abby’s recipe as follows: For sweetener I used a blend of brown sugar and maple syrup. To the crust I swapped out ½ cup of the AP flour for ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs, adding a nice toasty flavor, a bit of sandiness to the texture, and offsetting the extra moisture added by swapping in the liquid sweetener(syrup).

For the filling, I combined mashed roasted pumpkin, maple syrup, cream cheese, Trader Joe’s pumpkin pie spice, and a pinch of Chinese 5-spice powder.  This, according to my resident member of coffee-shop society(the 11-year old), smelled just like a pumpkin spice latte! So. . .what the hay, I went ahead and added yet another layer of flavor with two generous pinches of espresso powder.  After all, what is better than a yummy coffee at the end of the party?

My first thought for presentation was to make ultra-mini rectangles and call them pumpkin ravioli, I was going to try (a few at least) deep-fried(the fryer came out this weekend for football snack purposes) and serve them with a creme anglaise as the “pasta sauce.”  Big ideas! =D
But somehow once the espresso entered the mix, I changed gears and went with a cute jack-o-lantern shape.  Which, I guess, makes ME the #baketogether betty who makes cutesy shapes out of stuff.  When you consider my audience. . . I guess that makes sense.

I didn’t keep track of any measurements, I just kind of flung this one together, basing proportions on Abby’s original recipe and tasting as I went along.  ‘Cause here on Country Road, that is How We Doooo!

Thanks and #baketogether love! It’s been a great party, I wish each and every one of you could have been in my kitchen for the baking, jack-o-lantern design, tasting, and dancing–the boys and I had a blast.  And I wouldn’t have minded a hand with the clean up either!

xo
~Nancy

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