Jack-O-Lantern Spinach Stuffed Pastries

Note: I used two sets of pumpkin cookie cutters to make that cute jack-o-lantern face! One was a pumpkin cut-out and the other was a press that is used to cut out the eyes, etc. If you cannot find the pumpkin press, don’t worry you can just skip their indented faces and paint on a face with the egg wash! You will still have cute little jack-o-lanterns!

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, crushed red pepper, thyme and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spinach, then add salt, pepper and the nutmeg. Cook, stirring occasionally until the greens are slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium size mixing bowl.

Mix in the pumpkin, 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs and the cheddar cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

Lay out one of your pastry sheets on a work surface(keep the others covered until you are ready for them). Cut out your pumpkins using your pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter. Cover the cut pumpkins with a towel or plastic wrap until ready to use. Once you have cut all four sheets roll out your leftover pastry dough scraps and cut out a couple more pumpkins, trying to get as many pumpkins out of the dough as possible.

To make their faces take the stamp pumpkin cookie cuter and gently press down on half of the pumpkin cut pastries, making an indention in the dough. Don’t do anything with the other half of the pumpkins (those will be the bottoms of your pies).

Preheat oven to 375 F. Beat the egg and put it into a shallow bowl.

Take 1-2 tablespoons of your spinach filling and place it in the center of a non indented pumpkin. Brush the outer edges of the pastry with egg wash and place a pumpkin face on top. Using a fork make indents all around the edges of the pumpkin to seal the pastries. Put the pumpkin on a parchment lined baking tray.

Repeat with remaining filling until all the pastries have been used.

Mix 3 drop of red and 2 drops of yellow food coloring into your egg (depending on the food coloring you have this amount may vary, read the instructions on the box for the color orange). Paint you pumpkins with orange egg wash, being careful not to paint the eyes and mouth of your pumpkins.

Bake at 375 F for 15-20 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Then remove the pans from the oven and serve immediately.