Pumpkin Pie in a Cup

This pumpkin pie in a cup is made of a baked sweet pastry dough and a pumpkin pastry cream, garnished with whipped cream and ground cinnamon. Since it’s Halloween soon, I decorated the cups with pumpkin and ghost meringues.

What I love with desserts in cups or jars is that they are usually faster to make than a pie or a cake. They always look pretty and fancy and you can add, remove, or swap components very easily.

It’s better to assemble this dessert right before eating. If you prepare it too early, the sweet pastry is going to get soggy and the whipped cream might become loose.

Pumpkin pastry cream

I used canned pure pumpkin puree. If making your own, make sure to remove the most water you can out of the pumpkin.

This recipe only uses egg yolks. You can make meringues with the egg whites like I did, but remember to make them the day before as they require a couple of hours in the oven to dry out and possibly some more time if you want to decorate them.

You need to bring pastry cream to a boil. It’s really important to keep whisking the cream continuously so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Once it starts boiling, cook for one more minute to thicken.

Pour straight away in a container and cover with plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool down a bit before refrigerating.

Sweet pastry

This recipe only contains four ingredients and is very quick and easy to make.

Since it’s a pie in a jar, you don’t have to roll out the dough, but simply to bake it in a loaf pan and cut in cubes after cooling down.

Whipped cream

Whipped cream is a nice addition to the dessert, it brings some lightness without interfering with the taste of the pumpkin.

You can play around when assembling the pumpkin pie cups, use a different tip to pipe the whipped cream or make several layers of each components.

Pumpkin Pie in a Cup

Cup filled with a sweet pastry dough, pumpkin pastry cream and whipped cream.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 5 people

Ingredients

  

Pumpkin pastry cream

• ¾ cup milk – can use plant based (175 ml)
• ⅓ cup whipping cream (90 ml)
• ⅔ cup pumpkin puree (175 g)
• 2 ½ tbsp sugar (30 g)
• 3 tbsp cornstarch (30 g)
• 3 egg yolks (60 g)
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground ginger
• 1 pinch nutmeg

Sweet pastry

• ¼ cup + 1 tbsp butter – room temperature (77 g)
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar (30 g)
• ½ cup all purpose flour (70 g)
• 1 pinch sea salt flakes

Whipped cream

• ½ cup + 2 tbsp whipping cream (150 ml)
• 1 tbsp sugar (15 g)
• ground cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Instructions

 

Pumpkin pastry cream

• Mix the milk, cream, pumpkin puree, spices and half of the sugar in a pot and bring to a boil on medium heat, whisking from time to time.
• In a bowl, mix the rest of the sugar with the cornstarch and whisk in the egg yolks.
• When the milk starts to boil, pour some in the egg yolks, mix together, and transfer back to the pot.
• Cook the cream until boiling, and for one more minute from that point on, whisking continuously.
• Pour the cream in a container, with plastic wrap directly on top of it.

  Allow to cool down before refrigerating.

Sweet pastry

• Preheat the oven to 335°F – 170°C.
• Cream the butter with a spatula and mix in the icing sugar.
• Add the flour and the salt and mix until combined.
• Press the dough in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, and bake for 25 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
• Allow to cool down and cut in forty cubes.

Whipped cream

• Put the whipping cream and the sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer.
• Whip to firm peaks and fill a piping bag with a round tip.

Assembling the dessert

• Place four sweet pastry cubes in the bottom of each cup.
• Put the pumpkin pastry cream in a bowl and whip it for a few seconds to soften and aerate. Pipe on top of the sweet pastry.
• Press four more sweet pastry cubes in the cream and garnish with the whipped cream.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!

Notes

• I used canned pure pumpkin puree. If making your own, make sure to remove the most water you can out of the pumpkin.

• This recipe only uses egg yolks. You can make meringues with the egg whites like I did, but remember to make them the day before as they require a couple of hours in the oven to dry out.

• You need to bring pastry cream to a boil. It’s really important to keep whisking the cream continuously so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Once it starts boiling, cook for one more minute to thicken.

• You can play around when assembling the pumpkin pie cups, use a different tip to pipe the whipped cream or make several layers of each components.

• It’s better to assemble this dessert right before eating. If you prepare it too early, the sweet pastry is going to get soggy and the whipped cream might become loose.

Keyword Dessert in a jar, Halloween ideas, Pumpkin pie