For Christmas last year, I decided I wanted to make a dessert with my parfait cups I'd specifically picked out to replace different parfait cups I had that took up too much room in my cabinet... and then never used. I held off on posting this until this fall, because it would be an excellent mini-dessert for Thanksgiving or this Xmas.
And, no. I'm not going to make you scroll past paragraphs and paragraphs of I-don't-even-know-what sprinkled with photos and ads, making your phone practically freeze from all the memory use it takes, till you get to the recipe (I may have a beef with recipe bloggers who do that. They are the worst.)...
I'm going to get to the recipe immediately! The parts for these are layers of graham cracker crumbs, pumpkin cheesecake filling, and whipped cream frosting.
Oh except a quick word about the parfait cups pictured. I specifically picked out my parfait cups for their low-profile stacking for the sake of my cabinet. I like them except that they are supposed to be disposable, so I have to tell everyone up front that they're "not disposable" so that I can reuse them. I was able to top-rack dishwash them, but they're a bit flimsy. I since replaced them with these ones.
Mini Pumpkin Pie Parfaits
Makes 6-8 mini parfaits
The pumpkin and graham cracker crumbs can be made a couple days ahead of time; the frosting and subsequently assembled parfaits should be made the day you will be serving them.
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
4oz (1/2 8 oz package) cream cheese, room temp
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c canned pumpkin
1/3 c half-and-half or heavy cream
Graham Cracker Crumbs
4 Graham crackers (store-bought, or make your own)
1/4 c granulated sugar
Whipped Cream Frosting
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Kahula, Baileys, or vanilla extract
Directions:
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
Preheat oven to 350ยบ
1) In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugars and blend until smooth again.
2) Add remaining ingredients to bowl and blend until evenly mixed and smooth.
3) Pour mixture into a small baking pan. I used two Pyrex storage containers for this.
4) Bake for 15 minutes, rotate pan 180 degrees and continue baking for 15 minutes, until the top is slightly puffed up. The center may be wobbly but should no longer be soupy.
* If using two smaller pans, reduce bake time to 20 minutes, and you don't need to rotate.
Graham Cracker Crumbs
1) Break graham crackers into several pieces and place in blender or food processor. I used my Ninja chopper bowl.
2) Chop until they're about bread crumb size.
3) Transfer to a bowl and toss with sugar.
Whipped Cream Frosting
1) Chill a small bowl and beaters in freezer for 15 minutes.
2) Beat cream until frothy.
3) Add flavoring then powdered sugar gradually.
4) Keep shipping until light with a buttercream frosting consistency.
Assemble Parfaits
1) Scrape pumpkin mixture into a bowl.
2) Use scraper to stir up the mixture until smooth.
3) Fill parfait cups, alternating graham cracker, pumpkin, and frosting, with a small spoon. Use small layers of graham cracker and larger blobs of pumpkin and frosting.
4) Refrigerate until served.
5) Serve with espresso spoons. I also garnished with graham cracker pieces.
6) Enjoy!
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