During the fall, everyone tends to go off the deep end when it comes to pumpkin. Pumpkin flavored lattes, cookies, bread and even protein bars. I am "in-likes" with pumpkin, let me share with you why. My first ever pumpkin cooking experience was for Thanksgiving in 2000. My family hosted Thanksgiving each year and each year we had the same desserts, pumpkin and apple pie. I decided that year to make a delicious homemade pumpkin cheesecake. It was full of calories and yumminess. Unfortunately, not many of my family members agreed because it wasn't traditional. Only 2 people tried my cheesecake that I spent almost 4 hours making. This is why I am not "in-love" with pumpkin. This week, Cool and I had our monthly recipe "Throwdown" with a Halloween theme and pumpkin was the first thing that came to mind, so I thought I would give it another whirl. This time around without slaving 4 hours and also increasing the health of it.
Start off with an 8 oz container of 1/3 less fat cream cheese and blend with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. You can use a stand or hand mixer for this recipe.
Blend until creamy and add 1 cup of canned pumpkin, mix well.
To add body to the dip as well as nutrients as protein, I added in 1 small container of plain fat-free Siggi's Yogurt. You can also use a fat-free plain Greek Yogurt.
For the final addition, add in 1/2 of a container of light whipped topping. This will add a little more creaminess to the dip and cheesecake texture.
Choose fun things to dip. I really thought the Scooby-Doo! cracker sticks were awesome because they are shaped like bones (I had quite a few people as me if they were dog treats, hilarious). Sliced apples, banana ghosts (banana chunks with raisins for eyes) and pretzels were my other dippers.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip
Yield:
10 to 12 servings
Ingredients
- 1 (8oz) pkg light cream cheese
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ Tbsp pumpkin pie spice extract or 1 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
- ½ (4 oz) tub light whipped topping
- 1 (5 oz) container of plain Greek yogurt
Instructions
- With a handheld mixer and large bowl, beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar until smooth.
- Mix in the pumpkin puree and pie spice.
- Beat in the whip topping and yogurt until mixed thoroughly and the beaters leave ripples in the dip.
- Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
- Serve with apples, pretzels, vanilla wafers or your favorite dippers.
Recipe
adapted from: http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/pumpkin-cheesecake-dip-recipe.html
~Crazy
