Pumpkin Spice Toaster Pastries

Who’s ready for a mid-week treat? Our first Baked with Scare Wednesday of Year Four is here and to kick things off, we’re making our homemade take on a pantry staple!

pumpkin spice toaster pastries

Dough Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups vegetable shortening
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1  egg
  • 5 tbsp cold water
  • 1 tbsp white vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt

Filling Ingredients

  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 3 tbsp light brown sugar
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground clove
  • ¼ tsp ground allspice
  • 1 egg (for egg wash)
  • 1 tbsp milk (for egg wash)

Icing Ingredients

  • 1 lb powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp cream of tartar
  • 6 tbsp egg whites
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • Sprinkles

Additional Tools

  • Dough cutter
  • Plastic wrap
  • Rolling Pin
  • Plastic Ruler or Measuring Device
  • Rolling pastry cutter
  • Spatula
  • Food brush
  • Fork
  • Stand mixer
  • Piping bag

Instructions

  1. Start by making the pastry dough. In a large bowl, work the shortening in with a dough cutter until the mixture looks like coarse meal and clumps together. In another bowl, beat an egg and add to the dough mix. Add the water, vinegar, and salt and stir gently to combine.
  2. Separate the dough into two discs and cover with plastic wrap or place in zip-top plastic bags. Chill for at least 30 minutes up to overnight. Dough can also be frozen and thawed in the fridge for a bit before using.
  3. Prepare the filling by whisking together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and spices. Set aside.
  4. When ready to bake your Homemade Pumpkin Spice Toaster Pastries, thaw the dough and preheat your oven to 350°F. On a floured surface, roll one of the chilled dough discs out into a rectangle so that you are able to measure and cut out 3” x 4” rectangles. You may need to cut and re-roll a few times to use up as much of the dough as you can.
  5. Using an offset spatula, carefully place the dough rectangles on a parchment lined baking sheet and put it in the freezer to chill. Repeat the process until you have an even number of dough rectangles, taking care to keep the dough as cold as you can.
    1. This recipe should yield about 8 to 10 pastries (16 to 20 rectangles, accounting for the tops and bottoms) depending on how thin you roll out your dough.
  6. Prepare your egg wash by whisking together an egg with a bit of milk.
  7. To assemble your pastries, evenly divide the filling between all of the bottom rectangles – each one will take about a tablespoon. Brush the egg wash around all four edges of the bottom pastry and all over the inside of the top piece. Carefully place the top rectangle of dough (egg wash side down!) over the bottom piece with the filling. Push the edges together with your fingers and go back over all of the edges with the prongs of a fork to fully seal. Finally, poke a few holes with toothpicks or a fork in the top of the pastries to allow steam to escape.
  8. Once all pastries have been assembled, return the tray to the freezer for 3 to 5 minutes before baking.
  9. Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through the time, or until the crust is golden brown and baked all the way through. Remove from the oven and cool completely before decorating.
  10. When ready to decorate, prepare the royal icing by combining the powdered sugar, cream of tartar, and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Mix together on a low speed, increasing once everything’s combined. Whisk for two minutes – the icing will get whiter and develop a shine – and then stir in the extract.
  11. Transfer a few spoonfuls of this thicker, border royal icing to a piping bag and pipe the borders around the tarts.
  12. Gradually add water by the teaspoonful to the icing to thin it a bit so that it will flood and cover the pastries evenly. Finish icing the pastries with the thinner icing and finish with an abundance of sprinkles. Let the icing fully set before serving and enjoy!
    1. Note that pastries can be served right away or stored in the refrigerator for a few days and reheated in a low oven.

homemade pumpkin spice toaster pastry recipe

Whether you’re eating them for breakfast, lunch, or any snack in between, toaster pastries (you know the ones!) are quite the staple for a lot of people. I know that I pretty much lived off of them for a while in college! With classic fillings that include both fruit and sweets – as well as a good deal of seasonal offerings – there really are varieties of these handheld tarts for just about everyone. And it turns out they’re relatively easy to make at home, too!

Of course, like a lot of things baked at home, they can turn into quite the project – especially if you’re not as well versed at measuring and cutting specific sizes of dough (*ahem* like me). From using a rolling pin as a guideline to buying premade dough or fillings, there are a good number of short-cuts you can take in the process and still turn out a bake that will wow your guests!

homemade pumpkin spice toaster pastries

When I was putting the finishing touches on these, my biggest concern was that the top and bottom pieces of dough wouldn’t seal and the filling would leak all over the baking sheet. I am happy to report, though, that no such storm ever made landfall! I think this is mainly thanks to two things – egg washing both the bottom and top pieces of dough on the inside and then pushing the edges together with my fingertips before imprinting with the fork. I also went with a “less is more” approach to the filling, trusting that it would spread out a bit during baking to fill in the whole pastry, which worked out remarkably well.

homemade pumpkin spice toaster pastries, halloween baking, homemade pop tarts

And when it comes to decorating your toaster pastries, feel free to use your preferred method of making icing. I was tempted to go the super simple “powdered-sugar-and-milk” route, but decided to go for a fancier royal icing so that it would hold it’s shape a bit better and the sprinkles would be less likely to slide around. Because, in the end, it’s all about the sprinks, right?

So whether you’re looking to try your hand at a homemade version of a store-bought treat or just need a recipe to use up some ingredients sitting in the back of the fridge, these Homemade Pumpkin Spice Toaster Pastries are an easy way to put your spin on a pantry staple. And with endless possibilities for fillings, icings, and decorations, you can make them with all sorts of flavor combinations again and again… and again – no toaster required. Happy Baking!

homemade pumpkin pop tarts, homemade toaster pastry recipe, pumpkin spice toaster pastries

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