Jack-O’-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie

Our family is big on traditions and celebrating holidays and special occasions in big ways. However, Halloween is just not one of our favorites. The neighborhood we live in goes a little overboard on the spooky, gruesome side of Halloween and our kids have never wanted to be out in it all on Halloween night. So, we’ve made our own tradition of staying in and watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown while eating Jack-O’-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie! This has gone on for years and my kids still love it and look forward to it. They are not budging.

Jack-O’-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie is such a tasty treat! You could easily replace the cheeseburger mixture with a meaty pizza filling, a bbq ground beef filling, or a taco meat filling. We always stick with the original cheeseburger filling because it’s such a delicious and unique flavor within the pie crust! So, I’d highly recommend trying it with this filling recipe first.

(My younger daughter made the leaf candle votive in her 4th grade home economics class. Sweet.)

Jack-O’-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie

This recipe came from the October 2000 issue of Southern Living. Yes, I’ve had it that long!

Ingredients:

-1 pound ground beef

-1/2 medium onion, chopped

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-3/4 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp pepper

-1/4 cup ketchup

-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crust

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

-2+ cups shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack (I use a mixture of both)

2 Tbsp water

-1 egg

-red and yellow food coloring

Cook the first 5 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce; cool.

Unfold 1 pie crust, and place it on a lightly greased baking sheet. Spread mustard evenly over the crust. Stir together meat and mixture and 2 cups of cheese; spoon onto the center of the crust, leaving a 2-inch border.

Unfold the remaining crust, and cut out a jack-o’-lantern face, reserving the pastry cutouts to use as the stem. Place the crust over the meat mixture; crimp edges of the crust and fold under. Place stem on top of the jack-o’-lantern face.

Whisk together 1 or 2 Tbsp of water, egg, and 1 drop each of red and yellow food coloring; brush over crust.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes; remove from oven, and brush again with the egg mixture. If desired, fill eyes, nose and mouth with additional cheese (I don’t do this step anymore because it makes it harder to see the facial features when the cheese is so close in color to the orange-colored crust). Bake 5 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown.

Yields: 6-8 servings (I slice mine into 8 slices)

I like to serve cheeseburger pie with a side of baked sweet potato fries and a cup of popcorn candy mix.

Once the pie is served up and we take our plates to the den, it’s time for THE GREAT PUMPKIN! What a classic!!

I hope you try this fun recipe for your kiddos this week! Besides tasting so yummy, hey, it smiles back at you! How cute is that! Isn’t he a happy little guy!?

We are actually going to be gone on Halloween night this year, so we had our pie and Charlie Brown a little early. I went ahead and made a double batch of meat filling to put half in the freezer so I can make this again next weekend. My kids were excited to know they won’t have to wait another year for Jack-O’-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie!