Spiral Pumpkin Twists with Maple Cream
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Oct 02, 2015, Updated Jan 04, 2019
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I was haunted by this image from Pinterest for like a week straight. It’s so beautiful. A star made of layers of flakey puff pastry with ground cinnamon and chocolate weaved throughout. And, easy. So, so easy. Mainly because there’s not much to make—it’s just assembly!
This is the perfect thing for one of those nights or days when you’re invited totally last minute to a party or gathering and you need something fun and exciting and easy to put in the oven. This is the answer!
Hopefully for the whole month of October and November, you’ll have a can of pumpkin in your pantry because it’s a rule during fall, not sure if you knew this.
I made this a few times because the first time I made this LA weather was actually terribly un-fall-like and the puff pastry was melting and didn’t puff up at all. Not to worry, the second time was a charm.
I paired it with a simple maple syrup whipped cream spiked with a dollop of creme fraiche for some added tang that goes so nicely with the buttery, flakiness.
Spiral Pumpkin Twists with Maple Cream
Ingredients
Spiral Pumpkin:
- 2 sheets of round puff pastry, defrosted in the fridge
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- Pinch of salt
- 1 large egg yolk
Maple Cream:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon creme fraiche
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place a piece of parchment on your work surface. (I find it easiest to assemble this on a piece of parchment and then move it to the baking sheet.) Unroll the first piece of puff pastry and lay it on the piece of parchment.
- To a small bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Spread the pumpkin puree, in an even layer, all over the (12-inch) round or puff pastry, like you would a pizza with marinara sauce, stopping about 1/2-inch from the edges. Place the second round of puff pastry on top, pressing it down slightly, pushing out any air bubbles.
- At this point, since I was taking a bit of time, I found my puff pastry to be too soft to cut, so I transferred it to the freezer for 5 minutes. When I took it out, it was perfect. (If yours is flimsy, I suggest doing this, too.) Set a small drinking glass in the center of the puff pastry circle and start by cutting the pastry in 4, starting at the edge of the glass and going outward. Then slice each quarter into 2. And then cut each eighth into 3. You should end up with about 24 twists, but really you'll be ok as long as you don't make the twists too big.
- Twist each strip gently, starting at the center and then working your way outward, giving the twist support the entire time, to avoid breakage. I gave each strip about 5 to 6 turns. Repeat with the remaining strips. If the ends are jagged, feel free to take a sharp paring knife and trim the ends. Remove the glass and brush the entire thing with egg yolk and transfer to the freezer to chill for 10 minutes. Then bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until evenly golden brown.
- Meanwhile, in a stand-up mixer (you can also use a hand-mixer), combine the heavy cream, creme fraiche and maple syrup. Beat until soft peaks form, about 1 to 2 minutes. Serve alongside the spiral twists.
Yum! So pretty and sounds amazing! Gotta love pumpkin and maple this time of year!
I finally made this for a party yesterday and it was an instant hit 🙂 I put only nutella inside since I didn’t have much time to make a more complicated filling, but next time I might add some almond flakes or maybe try a savory option. Anyway, it’s a great idea. Thank you for this inspiration 🙂
yayyy!!! im posting a new one tomorrow, can’t wait! nutella sounds amazing.
It was indeed very tasty 🙂 Thanks again 🙂
Can this be made with pie crust dough, or does it have to be puff pastry?
This looks beautiful! Cannot wait to try it. In your second paragraph you talk about chocolate in this pastry but I don’t see it in the recipe anywhere. Am I missing something?
The recipe that I was inspired by was chocolate and cinnamon. The one I created is different from that but you could add nutella to this or another type of chocolate spread–I bet it would be delicious!
Could this be made using a regular pie crust recipe instead of the puff pastry?
I think a few people have tried it with mixed results. I really recommend the puff pastry for ultimate deliciousness/flakiness.
This looks great… I also like the idea of a savory version. I’m going to mess around and report back
Thank you ! Dale
Could I bake this the night before I need it? I’d love to take it in to my coworkers (so they can prevent me from eating the whole thing, lol), but don’t have time for this kind of assembly and baking in the morning before work.
Oh yeah! I think it keeps pretty well. I would just let it cool down completely (this part is important or else it’ll give off heat and make it soft instead of crispy and flaky) and then store it in an airtight container.
Oh and I definitely agree with you about not wanting to assemble it in the morning before work. It’s one of those things that doesn’t feel like it takes a ton of time when you have no where to go but it takes FOREVER if you’re on a time limit.
Can you give an estimate of the size of pastry rounds you use? We don’t have the brand you like–or actually any pre-cut round puff pastry around here. I didn’t have a good guess, so I used about 9.5″, which seems like it was way too small–there was too much filling for the pastry. It still came out okay, but boy was it a mess going in!
Ahh! I thought they’d all be the same size. Damn. Mine were 12-inches. I’m going to add this to the recipe. Thanks for the feedback. Sorry it gave you a bit of trouble. Happy it still turned out tho!
Oh my! Yeah, that would’ve made a big difference. No matter, still came out pretty & tasty. Although putting an egg glaze on that sucker was a lost cause. =) For anyone who can’t find that size, you can roll out the squares to the right size and cut it–it’s a little thin, but that probably would make it even easier to manage.
Gorgeous pie & twist, look so delicious 🙂
This is INSANELY beautiful. So pretty that I might get ticked off when someone decides to start tearing it apart!