Gluten Free/Dairy Free Mini Pumpkin Pies

My boy requested a Halloween Party a couple months ago and one of the elements to his request was to have pumpkin pie. I'm not even sure if he's ever had pumpkin pie before but when I saw Bakerella's pumpkin pie bites I knew this was the perfect option.

For the crust I used Gluten Free Mama's pie crust mix and it worked wonders. I was able to make 42 mini pies with the crust. Your favorite pie crust will work here.

Mini Pumpkin Pies - GF/DF

Adapted from Bakerella

Double GF/DF pie crust

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (I used Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream)

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 C canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 t pumpkin pie spice

Pumpkin shaped cookie cutter

1/2 C GF/DF chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Roll out the pie crust between two pieces of wax paper that have been lightly sprayed with oil. Roll to 1/4" thickness, I preferred a thicker crust to work with but play around and see what works best for you. Using a pumpkin cookie cutter (mine is about 3 inches in diameter) cut out pumpkins in the crust and then press into mini muffin tins. It's OK if things tear since you'll press the crust into the tin. Make sure the pumpkin stem won't overlap with any other stems and fill up the tin. Brush the crusts with egg white then fill with pumpkin pie filling. If you don't have a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter use a round cutter and then form stems for the pumpkins on your own.

For the pumpkin pie filling mix the cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until thoroughly combined. Fill the mini pies with filling then bake for 17 minutes or until the crusts just start to brown a little.

Repeat with the remaining crust and filling.

To decorate the pies melt the chocolate at 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval. Put a resealable bag in small glass, corner down, and pour the chocolate into the bag. Snip a small bit off the corner then pipe faces onto the mini pies. Store in the refrigerator.

I had a decent amount of melted chocolate left and since I didn't want to waste it I threw some Glutino pretzels down and drizzled them with chocolate. Now Hubby can enjoy some DF chocolate covered pretzels.

Peanut Butter Pie

A turkey dinner just isn't complete without pie and this one is rich and delicious but also easy to make. I opted for it because it meant I didn't need to make a standard pie crust, I was feeling a bit lazy.

First the pie crust, I used Pamela's chocolate mini cookies for the crust, first off I love snacking on these as they are a bit too much but they make a great pie crust. You can use any GF chocolate cooke here but this recipe is from the back of the bag.

Cookie Pie Crust

1 bag (7 oz) GF cookies crumbled

3 T butter

Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl then add the cookie crumbs. Mix together then pat into a pie pan. Bake for 5 minutes in a preheated 350 F oven. Allow it to cool before adding the pie filling.

Peanut Butter Pie

Adapted from Pillsbury Best of the Bake Off

Filling

1 C butter

1 C brown sugar

1 C peanut butter

12 oz frozen whipped topping*

In a medium saucepan combine the butter and brown sugar. Cook until the mixture is smooth stirring frequently. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl beat the peanut butter and brown sugar mixture on low until well blended. Beat 1 minute on medium-high then add the whipped topping and beat an additional minute on low or until it's smooth and well mixed. I take a spatula and stir a few times to make sure it's evenly mixed.

Pour into the chocolate cookie crust and refrigerate.

*Since we avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup I usually make my own whipped topping since all of the common brands contain HFCS. However I have found TruWhip in the frozen section at Rosauer's Huckleberry's Market and it is free of HFCS. It works perfectly when I'm not in the mood to make whipped topping from scratch.




Chocolate Topping

1/2 C choclate chips
1 T butter
2-3 t milk
1 1/2 t agave

In a small saucepan melt the chocolate chips, butter, milk, and agave over low heat stirring constantly until smooth. Add additional milk if needed to get a desired spreading consistency.

Spoon over the peanut butter pie filling and gently spread over the top of the pie. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

I suggest cutting it into small pieces because this pie is rich!