Jack o? lantern hand pies with pumpkin date filling

Ingredients

• 1 package pie dough for a double crust
• 1 1/3 cups roasted or canned pumpkin puree
• 5 large whole fresh Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup regular cream cheese, softened and slightly warm (fat free will not work)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg, beaten together for egg wash
• Raw sugar for sprinkling

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Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a food processor puree the dates and granulated sugar together until mainly smooth.
• Add the dark brown sugar, salt, cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and vanilla extract and puree until smooth. Scrap down the sides as needed. Set aside.
• Gently roll out the pie dough just until smooth between two pieces of wax paper. Make 7 cuts with the pumpkin cutter outline very close together going around the pie dough in a circle, and then an 8th cut right in the middle. Take the stencil part of the cutter, and press faces into 4 pumpkins. Repeat with second dough.
• Place the pumpkins without faces on the cookie sheet. Brush the edges lightly with egg wash. Take 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons of filling and spread it around the pumpkin leaving the edges clear. Too much filling will ooze out so be careful here.
• Press the faces gently on top of the puree and seal the edges with your fingers. Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a little raw sugar.
• Bake for 15 minutes on the middle rack. Serve warm or cold.