I don’t like pumpkin pie. It’s too goopy and too…I dunno…squash-y or something. I’m also not a big fan of cheesecake. I’ll eat it, I’ll even make it for others who request it, but it’s not my favorite.

Which is why it’s a little weird that one of my favorite things to make every year at Thanksgiving is maple-pumpkin cheesecake. The combination of pumpkin and cream cheese is somehow magically delicious. The buttery, mapley walnut-and-pecan sauce that I make to serve on top of the cheesecake is probably part of the magic.

I was planning to make a maple-pumpkin cheesecake this year until Brenda found a recipe for some adorable mini pumpkin pies a week or so before Thanksgiving. That got me thinking that maybe I should make something similar for our Thanksgiving dinner. Then I found another recipe for mini pumpkin pies with shortbread-cookie crust. While I do like a good graham-cracker crust, the idea of a shortbread crust definitely rang my bell.

When it came down to making the mini pies, I found I couldn’t quite stick with the idea of plain old pumpkin pie, though. I still wanted to add cream cheese to the filling.

I kind of made up the recipe for the filling as I went along, and I tweaked the shortbread crust recipe too. The first batch I tried pre-cooking the crusts a little; the second time I just filled the unbaked crusts. I did one batch where I topped each mini pie with a whole pecan, and I’m thinking that a little turbinado sugar sprinkled on top of each pie wouldn’t have been a bad idea either.

They were really freaking delicious. Even the people who didn’t like pumpkin pie said so. Want the recipe?

Mini Pumpkin-Cheesecake Pie with Shortbread Crust
Makes approx. 40 mini pies

Shortbread:
• 2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon sea salt)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Pumpkin Filling:
• 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• two eggs
• 1/4 cup real maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon sea salt)
• optional: pecan halves and/or turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

Shortbread crust: In a stand mixer, beat butter till soft. Add sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat a couple of minutes, till thoroughly combined. Add flour a little at a time and mix till combined. Scrape dough into a ball, cover, and refrigerate while you make the pumpkin filling.

Pumpkin filling: In a stand mixer combine pumpkin through salt and mix till thoroughly combined. There, that was easy, wasn’t it?

To make the mini pies, place a piece of dough (about a 1-inch ball) into each cup of a mini-muffin tin. Press dough into and up the sides so it evenly covers the bottom and sides up to the top. I had enough dough to make about 40 mini pies, so divide your dough accordingly.

Once all the crusts are ready, divide the pumpkin filling evenly among them, filling each to just below the top of the dough. If desired, top each with a pecan half or a sprinkle of turbinado sugar, or both if you’re feeling crazy.

(Note: I don’t think pre-baking the crusts is necessary. When I prebaked them, they puffed up a lot and we couldn’t fit as much filling into each cup. So I wouldn’t bother with pre-baking. Thanks for asking me, Madge, and reminding me to add this info to the post!)

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, till crusts are golden and the filling is set. Remove from oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes or so, then remove pies from pans. Serve warm if you can, but if you can’t they’re pretty tasty cold too. Store any extras in the fridge till you’re ready to eat them.