Everyone loves Thanksgiving, but let’s be honest, it can get expensive, especially when you have several guests to feed. But I’ve got a great little Thanksgiving hack for you. Well okay, maybe two. Thanksgiving hack number one: make these Mini Pumpkin Pies. You get twelve servings with half the amount of ingredients used for a regular-sized pumpkin pie. So instead of trying to slice one pie into razor-thin slices so that everyone gets a bite, be the star of the show with these adorable little Mini Pumpkin Pies. Everyone will die over their cuteness and you’ll be smiling with satisfaction because you just fed more people with fewer ingredients.
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No-Fuss Crust
As much as I love a classic pumpkin pie, I especially love these mini pumpkin pies because they don’t use a traditional pie crust. Pie crust can be tricky to work with, especially for new cooks, but these pies use a really unique dough made with butter, flour, and cream cheese. It has a soft moldable texture that is super forgiving and easy to work with. …Because the last thing you need to worry about on Thanksgiving is cracked pie dough.
Make A Double Batch of Mini Pumpkin Pies
As I mentioned above, this recipe basically uses half of the “filling” for a regular-sized pumpkin pie. So you can use your favorite pumpkin pie filling recipe, or even the pumpkin pie recipe on the label of your can of pumpkin purée and just divide it by two to fill 12 of these mini pumpkin pies. Or use the whole recipe and make 24 mini pumpkin pies!
Can I Make them Ahead?
Yes, you can make these mini pumpkin pies one day ahead of time. When preparing them in advance, allow the pies to cool completely to room temperature before covering and refrigerating. You can also freeze the pumpkin pies, but the quality is much better when fresh or refrigerated. So freezing is a great way to enjoy the leftovers for longer, but I wouldn’t freeze before serving to guests.
Pumpkin Pie Topping Options
You can leave the pumpkin pies bare (I love the color they add to a Thanksgiving spread), or you can top them with whipped cream and a little sprinkle of cinnamon (use any leftover cinnamon to make snickerdoodles!). If you plan to let the pumpkin pies sit out for a while, like as part of a Friendsgiving buffet, you may want to use a stabilized whipped cream to make sure the whipped cream doesn’t collapse as it sits (whip 1 Tbsp cornstarch into every cup of homemade whipped cream to stabilize).
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Servings 12 mini piesIngredients
Crust
- 8 Tbsp salted butter, room temperature ($0.80)
- 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature ($0.58)
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.07)
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar ($0.01)
Filling
- 1/2 15oz. can pumpkin purée ($0.48)
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk ($0.40)
- 1 large eggs ($0.29)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Make the pie crust first. Add the butter and cream cheese to a bowl and use a mixer to beat them together until light and fluffy.
- Beat 1 Tbsp sugar into the butter and cream cheese, then begin to beat in the flour, about ¼ cup at a time, until all of it has been incorporated. The result will be a very soft dough.
- Divide the dough into four equal pieces, then divide each piece into three so you have 12 equal-sized pieces total. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, then drop each one into the well of a muffin tin. Use your fingers to press the dough down into the center and up the sides of the wells (see step by step photos below for more help).
- Next, make the pie filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, evaporated milk, egg, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
- Divide the filling between the twelve pie shells (about 3 Tbsp each).
- Bake the pies for 35 minutes, or until the edges of the pie crusts are golden and the filling is slightly cracked on top.
- Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow the pies to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes they should be solid enough to safely remove. Slide a knife around the outer edge of each one until they pop out. Finish cooling the pies on a wire rack.
- Serve the pies at room temperature, or transfer them to the refrigerator once cooled for longer storage (up to four days).
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
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How to Make Mini Pumpkin Pies – Step by Step Photos
Here are all of the ingredients you’ll need for these mini pumpkin pies. The ingredients are all super simple pantry staples: flour, sugar, eggs, butter, cream cheese, evaporated milk, brown sugar, salt, pumpkin purée, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
Start by preheating the oven to 350ºF. Next, add 8 Tbsp room temperature butter and 4 oz. room temperature cream cheese to a bowl.
Beat the butter and cream cheese together until they’re evenly combined and fluffy.
Beat 1 Tbsp sugar into the butter and cream cheese, then start adding the flour, about ¼ cup at a time, beating until it is incorporated (1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour total). The end result will be a very soft dough. No dry flour should remain on the bottom of the bowl.
Divide the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces. To do this, divide the dough into four equal-sized pieces. From there, divide each piece into three equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place them into the wells of a muffin tin. Use your fingers to press the dough down and up the sides of the muffin tin wells. Make sure to get down into the corners of the well where a lot of the dough can accumulate and get too thick.
Next, it’s time to make the pumpkin pie filling. Whisk together ½ of a 15oz. can of pumpkin purée (about ⅞ of a cup), 1 large egg, ¾ cup evaporated milk, ¼ cup sugar, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, and ¼ tsp salt.
Divide the pumpkin filling among the 12 pie shells. The easiest way to do this is to use a 2 Tbsp scoop or measuring cup and add 2 Tbsp to each one first, then go back and add a bit more to each one until the filling is used up. It ends up being about 3 Tbsp filling per pie.
Bake the pumpkin pies in the fully preheated 350ºF oven for 35 minutes or until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is slightly cracked on top. Allow the pies to cool in the muffin tin for about 10 minutes so they can solidify a bit before attempting removal. Once they’re slightly cooled, run a knife around the edge of each one and they will pop right out!
Allow the pies to finish cooling on a cooling rack. Remember, make sure they are fully cooled to room temperature before refrigeration to prevent condensation. Refrigerated pumpkin pies will stay good in the refrigerator for four days.
All of the recipes on this site are provided to us for free and every one that I’ve tried has been awesome! I come here first when looking for inspiration or particular recipes. Beth is not the first to have sponsored posts. She has to pay the bills too. I made these cute little pies using the brands I always buy. I didn’t feel pressured to shop at Aldi. The pies are cute and tasty and budget friendly.
Question- can I use unsalted butter? ย I seem to remember my mom always telling me to only bake with unsalted butter. ย Thank you for your help! ย
I used salted butter, but you could use unsalted if you prefer. You may want to add a little salt to the dough to compensate, but I’d need to test it to see how much would be needed, if any, to keep it from being too bland.
There’s nothing like a great grocery store! I have my own grocery store favorites, but we don’t have any Aldi’s in our state. :( ย It sounds like a really good chain. Honestly, I’d be more thrilled checking out an Aldi’s than going to a high end department store. I guess I just love good food and bargains.
Thanks for this fantastic recipe, Beth! Rugelach uses the same forgiving cream cheese dough for delicate and delicious rolled cookies. You should try them for the holiday season!
These pies are so good! Pumpkin pie always tests my patience because I like to eat it after it has chilled, and it takes forever for a hot pumpkin pie to get cold. I was able to make these pies around 3 and they were cold enough to eat after dinner the same day! The only thing I would do differently next time is make a double batch.
Hi Beth! Love your blog, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful talents with us! I don’t mind the occasional sponsored post. :-)
I’d love to try this recipe with some pre-packaged mini graham cracker tart crusts, should I adjust the baking time if I use these crusts instead?
Thank you, Michelle. That means a lot to me. :) I’m not sure how the graham cracker crusts would work out here, unfortunately. I’d need to test it first to see if the baking time is too much for them. I definitely wouldn’t reduce the bake time, though, because that is the amount needed for the filling to set.
Hello, these looks great! Can you make them with vegan butter and vegan cream cheese, coconut milk if you canโt have dairy?
Thanks!
Unfortunately, that’s a lot of ingredient substitutions so it’s impossible to know without testing it first. Baking can be quite finicky so when you switch out even one ingredient that can often drastically change the outcome. :)
I’ve done a lot of dairy free baking and I would use a plain unsweetened soy milk rather than coconut milk as the soy milk would be a little closer nutritionally to the evaporated milk. I have successfully substituted vegan butter and vegan cream cheese in recipes.
I so appreciate this blog. I have learned so much and all for free! Thank you for all that you offer your readers. I fully support your sponsored posts and I consider those sponsors when Iโm shopping.
We know you have to make a living too. I love that your sponsors are helping keep the lights on over there.
I have worked in grocery industry for a long time. I am a huge fan of Aldiโs
I canโt wait to try this recipe Beth!๐
Presumably this was a sponsored post? While I’ve loved your blog for years, Beth, and I know we benefit from your free content, oof, this level of name dropping is REALLY off-putting. I enjoy shopping at Aldi, too, but there aren’t any in the state where I live.
Yes, this post is sponsored, which is disclosed at the very beginning of the post. :) I have partnered with ALDI several times in the past and plan to do more in the future. I limit my sponsored content to just a couple of times per year and with brands that I truly love. This is one of the ways we cover the costs of providing free content for the rest of the year. My hope is that the recipe itself is still useful, even to those who do not live near an ALDI, as it uses basic ingredients that can be found anywhere. But, not every blog post will be relevant to every reader, so it’s there for people to take or leave as they see fit.
I’m a huge ALDI fan, and this is a great sponsored post!
I always struggle with pie crust coming out pretty, so I’m excited to try this recipe. Would this dough work for full size pies as well? I’m wondering if it could be the solution to all my pie woes!
These look so cute! Definitely going to try these soon. Surprised to see people upset about a sponsored post from Aldi. Itโs such a great store with budget prices so itโs a perfect match for your blog. Also LOL at people calling it โbrand nameโ products. Itโs Aldi yโall. Chill and happy holidaysย
This comment is not intended for posting. Are all your recipes in future going to be touting specific brands? If so, please cancel my newsletter subscription. Thank you.
I enjoy your site…Can I ask (unless I overlooked), do you SPRAY the muffin tins or grease before adding the dough? I plan to make these but I don’t want to have them stick.
Thank you for your time and your feedback!
Nope, no spray or grease needed! :) The pie crust has so much fat in it that it doesn’t stick.
Thank you! I appreciate your quick response! I printed a copy and will make a “note to self”.
P.S. I love Aldi. Keeps me on budget track.
This looks so good! I do want to try it, but wondering if the bottom crusts are soggy. They don’t spend alot of time in the oven, is the bottom baked through?
Yes, they’re baked through. :)
so cute and so delicious! perfect little bites and the crust is amazing