A Beginner's Guide by Sahar Ahmed

Directions

For the Crust
Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix.
Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas.
With the machine running, pour the ice water and vinegar down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.
Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
For the Filling
In a deep saucepan over medium high heat, add pumpkin puree, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and butter.
Cook for 5-8 minutes until the mixture becomes smooth and paste like.
Set aside and cool for 15-20 min.
Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract and cream cheese. Whish to combine everything.
Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 min.
To Make the Pasties
Mix 1 egg with water and whisk to make the egg wash.
Take out the dough and cut in half. Wrap the other half with plastic wrap. Work with half of the dough at a time while chilling the other in the refrigerator.
Roll one half out about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick. Cut with a 4 1/2-inch round cookie cutter.
Fill each circle with 1 tablespoon of chilled pumpkin filling.
Brush the sides of each circle with the egg wash and seal with fingers. Crimp the edges of the pasties or use a fork if needed.
Put the pasties on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, about 2-inches apart.
Brush the tops of each pasty with egg wash and make 2 small slits on top of each pasty.
Set the sheet pan in the refrigerator while making the rest of the pasties.
Chill the assembled pasties in the refrigerator for 15-20 min before baking.
Meanwhile preheat the oven at 400 F.
When the pasties are all chilled, bake them for 15-20 min until pasties are light brown.
For Caramel Sauce
Add sugar and water in a heavy-duty nonstick saucepan. Cook over medium heat, until the sugar dissolves.
Don't stir the caramel sauce. Just gently swirl the mixture around the pan occasionally and brush down the sides of the pan with a wet silicone brush as needed to keep sugar crystals from forming.
Continue swirling and cooking until the mixture turns deep amber in color 6 to 9 minutes.
Remove from heat and add in the heavy cream and butter. Stir vigorously for 1 min until the butter has melted and the caramel is smooth. *Be careful because the mixture will bubble up.
Add in vanilla extract and salt. Stir to combine and pour in a heat proof jar.
Notes
You can use store bought pie crust if you don’t wish to make your own.
You can also use store bought caramel sauce topping for drizzling the pasties.
The Caramel Sauce keeps well refrigerated for 1 month. Just warm slightly in the microwave before using.