Bring on the pumpkin..pie pops that is.

I love pumpkin pie. I know everyone says that but it is my all time favorite. That is saying a lot because I really really love me some pie. Apple pie, sweet potato pie, cherry pie and pretty much every other pie ever made. If you pie it, I want to eat it. So that being said I love pumpkin the most. That is why when I saw pie pops on Bakerella's site I had to make some pumpkin pie pops. Now on Bakerella's site she uses cherry pie mix but you go right ahead and fit your own pie needs. My pie needs are pumpkin so that is what we are doing today. We are also going to be making Bakerella's pumpkin pie bites with our left overs.

First we need to make pumpkin pie mix. Now there is nothing wrong at all Ladies and Gents with buying an already thrown together pumpkin pie mix and skipping this first part. However as I mentioned before I love me some pumpkin pie and only homemade my way will do the trick.

We are going to need:
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature (Bakerella's calls for 8 ounces but I use four to cut down on the fat
                                                             and it works just a great.)
1/2 cup sugar (I use brown sugar only when making pumpkin anything)
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs (only two go in mix, one is for washing the pie crust with egg white)
1 teaspoon vanilla (If you love vanilla like me don't be afraid. Go ahead and add a dash more)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (Ok I use my own spice mix of cloves, honey and cinnamon but you do your pie however your Momma raised ya.)
Cookie cutter: heart shaped, round shaped, pumpkin shaped. What ever fits your moods Cupcakes.

Now if you have a mixer this will be even easier for you. I am not The Princess of anything (except
laundry. I totally rock out laundry) so I can't ever seem to justify spending a car payment on a mixer. :(

Get ready to get your beat on!



Place some parchment paper on the surface you are going to be working,
grab your pie mix, store bought pie crust (unless your Martha Stewart and then you are
awesome and should only ever eat your own homemade pie crust because
everything else would be lame)  some flour and lolly-pop sticks.



My little Matryoshka Measuring cups I got from
Bakeitpretty have a duel purpose today. They are going to be
my prefect size round cookie cutters to cut out the pie shells.



Just press down and twist with your cookie cutter until you have an equal amount
of circles. Remember you will need two circles for each pie pop. One for the back and one
for the front.



Once I have the circles I like to line them up factory style and place the lolly-pop
sticks in the bottoms circles. Just half way should be prefect.



Add the pie mix to the center of the pie circle with the lolly-pop stick already in it.
Then cover with a second circles and crimp the sides down with one of the extra
lolly-pop sticks or a fork so it is nice a sealed. Don't worry if a little leaks out. Just
run a lolly-pop stick along the edge and it will clean that right up.




My premade pie crust I bought came with two pie crust so after I finished the
pie pops I decided to make mini pies with the left over pumpkin filling and crust.
Same principle as the pie pop. Cut out the circles and then press one pie
circles down into a mini muffin pan. Fill in with extra pie mix.  




After I baked them at 375 degrees F for 12 minutes. They came out perfect.
Don't worry about them being a little bubbly when you take them out they will
deflate a little while cooling.

Now we have the pie pops and mini pies all baked and cooled we need to decorate Cupcakes!



I used a brown chocolate candy writer to decorate these. Bakerella
drew pumpkin face on her mini pumpkin pies and those were cute too but I
wanted something a little more traditional for this Thanksgiving and little less
cutie.




Do you have a coffee pot Cupcake? Well if you do then I am going to tell
you melting these will be super easy. Just fill the coffee pot with hot water (not boiling) from the tap.
Place the tube in the water until it is soft and chocolate melted. Then open it up and paint away!




Isn't pumpkin just the best invention ever.



Yummy.

I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving filled with lots of love, family, kindness, thankfulness and some really good eatins! Take pictures of you Thanksgiving meals and share them with me at my Community: Mommy Baking love into it.. I would love to see them Cupcakes!