Want pie? Can't get pie?

Pie is good. We like pie. Piiiieeeee.

As you’ve probably noticed, there is a lack of pie in Korea.

Fear not friends, there are some alternatives.

Want pumpkin pie but can’t get hold of any before tomorrow (American Thanksgiving)? Want to impress your other Expat friends at a pot-luck Thanksgiving get together?

If you have a toaster oven then you can make these pumpkin pie wontons instead.

To make 16 of these little treats, you’ll need:

* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 2 tablespoons maple syrup (can substitute honey in a pinch)
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see recipe for pumpkin pie spice below)
* 16 packaged wonton (mandu) wrappers
* granulated sugar, for dusting
* ground cinnamon, for dusting
* cooking spray (you can use oil or butter on a paper towel, or use a pastry brush)

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to about 204 degrees C.
2. Mix pumpkin, maple syrup, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Place one wonton wrapper flat on work surface.
4. Spoon 1 Tbsp filling into center. (If you get the bigger wrappers this amount changes, so experiment a little bit.)
5. Moisten edges of wonton with water (or egg) and fold in half to form triangle. If you’re an experienced mandu crafter you can make the pretty edges by hand. You could use a mandu press, or you can make a triangle and then fold the end corners into the middle.
6. Don’t forget to press down on the edges well to seal them.
7. Repeat.
8. Arrange filled wontons on ungreased baking sheet.
9. Lightly coat wontons with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle each with sugar and cinnamon.
10. Bake until golden, about 16 minutes (my toaster oven takes about 20 minutes)
11. Turn over, spray, sprinkle and bake for two or three more minutes.
12. Set baking sheet on wire rack to cool.
13. Enjoy!

Here is the pumpkin pie spice recipe:

4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Allspice
1 Tsp Nutmeg

It’s not pie, but it will make you feel nostalgic anyway. It’s tasty and quick to make. I really enjoy them in my lunch box. I hope you like them too.

What’s that you say? You have no canned pumpkin? You have no pumpkin pie filling?
If you have neither one of those you could buy a squash ( from the market, de-seed it, cook it and use the cooked squash instead.

Or you could substitute mashed sweet potatoes, and create a sweet potato pie filling instead. (I bet baked apples would be good too, but you’d have to chop them up well so that they’d fit in the wrapper easily.)

ps. You can find pie in Seoul. Try Tartine, and Costco to start with. I’m sure there are other places as well.

-Lily (aka Lunalil of Funk Seoul Sister)