Fresh, Simple Pumpkin Parfaits

It’s pumpkin season — yay! And these fresh, pretty pumpkin parfaits are sure to be a crowd-pleasing dessert!

Bring on the pancakes, turnovers, pies, soup, lattes and parfaits — and all in pumpkin-flavored form!

Whoa — pumpkin parfaits?

Yes ma’am.

You read that correctly.

One classic, favorite, simple dessert is showing its autumn colors with a pumpkin twist!

Let’s be honest here.

I am normally a canned pumpkin kind of girl.

Why?

Because it is sooo much easier.

Busy mom life equals easy recipes.

But I’m also a HUGE fan of pumpkin anything.

So that kind of, sort of, made me want to at least try switching out canned pumpkin with the free stuff.

And what did I find out in my adventurous pumpkin switch?

I found that fresh is better.

Straight from the pumpkin.

Shocker, right? ;0)

Try it, at least for this recipe, and you’ll be convinced too!

Psst! It’s not a lot of extra work to bake a pumpkin or toss it in your crockpot.

So toss all your canned pumpkin hacks to the side and use the fresh stuff!

If you want to add some extra yumminess to your recipe, drizzle some caramel on top.

I completely forgot to do that for the food pictures, but you can do it just the same and tell me how AWESOME it was!

I have seen a lot of people use ginger snaps for their parfaits, but I really, really, really enjoy crumbled, honey graham crackers.

I also used fresh whipped cream in this recipe.

Don’t be intimidated, it’s so easy a child could make it — in fact, my daughter did!

My girls love making the fun stuff — like icing, whipped cream or glaze.

They leave me to do the boring, necessary stuff — wink, wink!

Enjoy your pumpkin season and start off celebrating with these fresh, pretty pumpkin parfaits for an amazing dessert!

Fresh and Simple Pumpkin Parfaits

Yield: 4 servings

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Ingredients

For the pumpkin layer:

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cookie layer:

• 4 honey graham cracker sheets
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar

Homemade Whipped Cream

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In large mixing bowl, place all pumpkin layer ingredients and mix until smooth and creamy, approximately four minutes. Place in freezer for a quick chill while you prepare your other ingredients.
2. Stir all cookie layer ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, mix whipping cream on medium high until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla extract and beat an additional minute.
4. Layer parfait glasses very gently following this pattern: cookie mixture, whipped cream, pumpkin layer, whipped cream, pumpkin layer and top with whipped cream. Sprinkle remaining cookie layer on top. Repeat for each parfait.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g