mini pumpkin pies, a low-sugar halloween treat

I CAN’T LIE TO YOU. These aren’t exactly “healthy” Halloween treats for kids. But they’re not so bad for you–or the kiddies–either. Low in sugar, full of pumpkin and even chia seeds, the main culprit here is that deliciously buttery pie crust. But the serving size is so small that I think we can get away with one at snack time. Or maybe two…

We made these for snack day at Phoebe’s preschool, along with the string cheese witches’ brooms and guess what? These took much longer to put together than the brooms. But they’re still worth doing, especially if you’re cooking for a crowd of tiny Halloween revelers.

This is the second Halloween treat we’ve attempted to recreate from ideas seen elsewhere and this one originally comes from the beautiful book Weelicious Lunches. We made a couple of updates to the recipe and I’ll lay those out below.

Come back tomorrow because we’re cooking up some spidery eggs this afternoon… You’ll find out whether the idea is doable enough to attempt at home–and if kids actually eat them.

HEALTHY-ISH HALLOWEEN IDEAS, FROM PINTEREST TO MY OWN KITCHEN

Idea #2: Mini Pumpkin Pies

Doable? Yes, but tedious. Rolling out all the dough over and over was a pain.

Worth it? Yes. The kids were really excited about them, and could easily help with things like rolling the dough and transferring the cutouts to the cookie sheet. And I liked throwing in lots of chia seeds, just another vehicle for good-for-you ingredients.

Did the kids eat them? Yep!

Mini Pumpkin Pies

adapted from Weelicious Lunches

makes approx. 30 hand pies

ingredients

• 2 packages ready-made pie crust (or make your own whole-what pie crust)
• 1 12-ounce can pumpkin puree
• 3 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 cup chia seeds

instructions

Preheat the oven according to your pie crust package.

Cream together all the ingredients from pumpkin to chia seeds. Roll out the dough and use small cookie cutters–mine are the Wilton Halloween Cookie Cutter Set and about 3 inches across. Use any design you like, but make sure to do a pair for every pie. Two ghosts, two pumpkins, etc.

Put the cut out dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking sheet. Fill a small bowl of water, then use your finger to dab the edges of the crust. (This will make it stick.) Put a teaspoon of pumpkin filling in the middle and add a matching cut-out on top. Press the edges down, wipe away any oozing pumpkin and move on.

Once you’ve assembled a whole pan, pop it in the oven for about 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them, don’t let them get too brown and they’ll be delicious.