Sick of the orange stuff yet? Never! Not here! We got crunchy, we got flaky, we got sweet but not too sweet…..these happily handheld pumpkin pick up sticks are the perfect little somethin somethin when you’re craving yourself a goodie, but nothing too, too jacked up sugary crazy.
Kinda even adorably cute, these are a novel sort of fall/ holiday/ tea time nosh, and so simple to throw together. Imagine a Pillsbury toaster strudel getting hitched to a piece of pumpkin pie! Send me an invite to that wedding.
This is what you do with leftover pumpkin. Well….this is what I do with leftover pumpkin, and we are in this together! So, let’s get after it……..
The only thing you may not typically have just hanging around in the back of your freezer is puff pastry dough, but hey, that’s easy enough to procure in the frozen bread section of any grocery store. The rest of what you need is most likely right there in your kitchen…including some pureed pumpkin. I had some frozen because I just knew that I would use it – eventually….so if you too are defrosting pumpkin be aware that it will get pretty watery as it thaws. Just go ahead and drain that liquid off and you’ll be good to go. You only need about half a cup or so. Sweeten it up with a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar, and a teaspoon or so of pumpkin pie spice. Give it a taste, and adjust to your liking!
Now spread out that piece of thawed (very important here, make sure to give it a little time for this) pastry dough, and cut it into six even strips. I used a pizza cutter to do my dirty work here and it was perfect! Start by slicing the dough in half, and then cut each of those into thirds. Simple.
Smear a dab of your pumpkin on half of each of your six strips, alternating top and bottom, like the pic below shows. Make sure to leave room around the sides for sealing. Flip each side up and over to create a bit of a stick. Pretty nifty, right?
Snag yourself a fork and get to stamping these little guys shut. Just mash em down around the open sides. On lockdown they go or they will be oozing out their orange innards all over your baking sheet. Poke a few holes in the tops to give them room to let out some steam, just as you would any sort of pastry covered pie……
Crack one egg into a small bowl and whisk it up really well. Find a pastry brush, or even a clean (yes? I hope?) small paint brush, and if THAT fails, by God you can even use your clean (yes? I hope?) finger….and liberally paint your pastry sticks with the scrambled egg wash. Although these photos suggest otherwise, I like to smear on the egg wash after I get these little guys all sealed and poked. It works either way, and it will be perfect……
If you have some casting sugar, also known as Demerara sugar, give these boys a generous sprinkle, before popping them into the oven. Any kind of sugar works here, the fancy schmancy sugaring (or sanding) sugar you use for cookie decorating…..regular sugar, brown sugar. Whatever’s handy. Demerara sugar is nice because it gives the finished product an additional irresistable ka-runch!
Love that.
Look at this! Even with all of my lecturing on oozing innards I still had some run off. Avoid having to get out the dynamite to clean your cookie sheet by planning ahead with a little wax or parchment paper action. Always thinking about easy cleaning, people……….
Leftover whipped cream? Gotta do it.
No waste here, baby-cakes. Recipe below:
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
- 1/2 cup or so * pumpkin puree
- 1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice**
- 1 egg, well beaten
- Demerara sugar***
- Preheat your oven to 350°
- In a small bowl, mix the pumpkin puree with the powdered sugar and pumpkin pie spice to taste
- Place the sheet of pastry dough on a wax paper lined work surface, landscape style, and with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice the dough vertically into six equal parts
- Smear a teaspoon or so of pumpkin filling onto one half of each "stick" alternating sides. Be sure to keep the filling a quarter of an inch or so away from the edges
- Fold the clean dough over the filled side and seal open edges down with the tines of a fork, poke a few holes in the sealed pastry as well for steam to escape
- Brush the sealed pumpkin sticks liberally with the egg and sprinkle with crunchy sugar
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and puffy
- Eat right away!!!!!
- Serve with ice cream or whipped cream or just straight out of the oven
- Yum
- * remember we are using leftovers here, so have at least a half cup.
- ** or cinnamon - remember quantities of this and the powdered sugar will depend on how much pumpkin you have to work with, and how sweet you like your filling
- ***or sanding sugar, or sugar in the raw, or any sort of sugar that you can easily get your hands on
1 Comment
So delicious. I will definitely give this a holiday try. 👍🏻