diff --git a/composer/Template/LegacyProject/composer.json b/composer/Template/LegacyProject/composer.json
index 51aced4574..eda6305dd6 100644
--- a/composer/Template/LegacyProject/composer.json
+++ b/composer/Template/LegacyProject/composer.json
@@ -11,12 +11,12 @@
     ],
     "require": {
         "composer/installers": "^1.2",
-        "drupal/core-recommended": "^8.8",
-        "drupal/core-composer-scaffold": "^8.8",
-        "drupal/core-vendor-hardening": "^8.8"
+        "drupal/core-recommended": "^8.9",
+        "drupal/core-composer-scaffold": "^8.9",
+        "drupal/core-vendor-hardening": "^8.9"
     },
     "require-dev": {
-        "drupal/dev-dependencies": "^8.8"
+        "drupal/dev-dependencies": "^8.9"
     },
     "conflict": {
         "drupal/drupal": "*"
diff --git a/composer/Template/RecommendedProject/composer.json b/composer/Template/RecommendedProject/composer.json
index 98189b3105..6c07403b20 100644
--- a/composer/Template/RecommendedProject/composer.json
+++ b/composer/Template/RecommendedProject/composer.json
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@
     ],
     "require": {
         "composer/installers": "^1.2",
-        "drupal/core-recommended": "^8.8",
-        "drupal/core-composer-scaffold": "^8.8"
+        "drupal/core-recommended": "^8.9",
+        "drupal/core-composer-scaffold": "^8.9"
     },
     "require-dev": {
-        "drupal/dev-dependencies": "^8.8"
+        "drupal/dev-dependencies": "^8.9"
     },
     "conflict": {
         "drupal/drupal": "*"
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/Template/ComposerProjectTemplatesTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/Template/ComposerProjectTemplatesTest.php
index f253b5dd9b..9739a3d855 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/Template/ComposerProjectTemplatesTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/Template/ComposerProjectTemplatesTest.php
@@ -18,20 +18,28 @@
  * project template and not any other dependencies.
  *
  * @group #slow
- * @group Scaffold
- * @group Build
+ * @group Template
  *
  * @requires externalCommand composer
  */
 class ComposerProjectTemplatesTest extends BuildTestBase {
 
-  public function getPathRepos() {
+  /**
+   * Get all the path repos we need to add to the project template.
+   *
+   * @param type $workspace_directory
+   *   The full path to the workspace directory.
+   *
+   * @return string[]
+   *   Array of path repo information, indexed by package name.
+   */
+  public function getPathRepos($workspace_directory) {
     return [
-      'drupal/core-recommended' => '../../Metapackage/CoreRecommended',
-      'drupal/dev-dependencies' => '../../Metapackage/DevDependencies',
-      'drupal/pinned-dev-dependencies' => '../../Metapackage/PinnedDevDependencies',
-      'drupal/core-vendor-hardening' => '../../Plugin/VendorHardening',
-      'drupal/core-composer-scaffold' => '../../Plugin/Scaffold',
+      'drupal/core-recommended' => $workspace_directory . '/composer/Metapackage/CoreRecommended',
+      'drupal/dev-dependencies' => $workspace_directory . '/composer/Metapackage/DevDependencies',
+      'drupal/pinned-dev-dependencies' => $workspace_directory . '/composer/Metapackage/PinnedDevDependencies',
+      'drupal/core-vendor-hardening' => $workspace_directory . '/composer/Plugin/VendorHardening',
+      'drupal/core-composer-scaffold' => $workspace_directory . '/composer/Plugin/Scaffold',
     ];
   }
 
@@ -56,9 +64,10 @@ public function provideTemplateCreateProject() {
   public function testTemplateCreateProject($project, $package_dir, $docroot_dir) {
     $this->copyCodebase();
 
+    $core_version = '8.9.x-dev';
+
     // Set up the template to use our path repos.
-    foreach ($this->getPathRepos() as $name => $path) {
-      // composer config repositories.asdf path a/path
+    foreach ($this->getPathRepos($this->getWorkspaceDirectory()) as $name => $path) {
       $this->executeCommand('composer config repositories.' . $name . ' path ' . $path, $package_dir . '/');
       $this->assertCommandSuccessful();
     }
@@ -68,13 +77,35 @@ public function testTemplateCreateProject($project, $package_dir, $docroot_dir)
     $autoloader = $this->getWorkspaceDirectory() . '/testproject' . $docroot_dir . '/autoload.php';
     $this->assertFileNotExists($autoloader);
 
-    $process = $this->executeCommand('composer create-project ' . $project . ' testproject -s dev -v --repository ' . $repository_path);
+    $this->executeCommand("COMPOSER_CORE_VERSION=$core_version composer create-project $project testproject $core_version -s dev -vv --repository $repository_path");
     $this->assertCommandSuccessful();
 
     // Ensure we used the project from our codebase.
-    $this->assertErrorOutputContains('Installing ' . $project . ' (dev-master): Symlinking from ' . $package_dir);
+    $this->assertErrorOutputContains("Installing $project ($core_version): Symlinking from $package_dir");
     // Verify that there is an autoloader.
     $this->assertFileExists($autoloader);
+
+    // Get the composer.json data.
+    $package_json = $this->getWorkspaceDirectory() . '/' . $package_dir . '/composer.json';
+    $this->assertFileExists($package_json);
+    $template_json = json_decode(file_get_contents($package_json), TRUE);
+    // Get the require and require-dev information.
+    $require = array_merge(
+      $template_json['require'] ?? [],
+      $template_json['require-dev'] ?? []
+    );
+    // Verify that path repo packages were installed as symlinks. Composer does
+    // not announce that we're using a symlink for the metapackages, so we can
+    // only check the packages.
+    $path_repos = [
+      'drupal/core-vendor-hardening',
+      'drupal/core-composer-scaffold',
+    ];
+    foreach (array_keys($require) as $package_name) {
+      if (in_array($package_name, $path_repos)) {
+        $this->assertErrorOutputContains("Installing $package_name ($core_version): Symlinking from");
+      }
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/fixtures/packages.json b/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/fixtures/packages.json
index 733163f980..86c4d95d4e 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/fixtures/packages.json
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/BuildTests/Composer/fixtures/packages.json
@@ -1,25 +1,25 @@
 {
   "packages": {
     "drupal/recommended-project": {
-      "dev-master": {
+      "8.9.x-dev": {
         "name": "drupal/recommended-project",
         "dist": {
           "type": "path",
           "url": "composer/Template/RecommendedProject"
         },
         "type": "project",
-        "version": "dev-master"
+        "version": "8.9.x-dev"
       }
     },
     "drupal/legacy-project": {
-      "dev-master": {
+      "8.9.x-dev": {
         "name": "drupal/legacy-project",
         "dist": {
           "type": "path",
           "url": "composer/Template/LegacyProject"
         },
         "type": "project",
-        "version": "dev-master"
+        "version": "8.9.x-dev"
       }
     }
   }