Best Pumpkin Spice Dessert Recipes plus all your pumpkin dessert questions answered!
Are you starting to feel the autumn chill in the air and thinking to yourself… you’ve just got to make some cozy spiced dessert to warm yourself up? Look no further! I have compiled my Best Pumpkin Spice Dessert Recipes all in one place!
Best Pumpkin Spice Dessert Recipes
1. No Bake Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake with a Gingernut Crust
This deliciously creamy, no bake cheesecake has a lightly spiced pumpkin filling and a ginger flavoured crust. It takes a little while to make this as you need to let the gelatine set, but it’s so worth it! This recipe is a deliciously light alternative to pumpkin pie.
2. Small Batch Pumpkin Pie Slices
A deliciously addictive bake, these small batch pumpkin pie slices are perfect for small get togethers or for small households. The slices are baked in a loaf tin which allows you to slice portions with ease. It also allows you to dictate how big or small you want the slices without the headache of a large, circular pie. The crust is made of crushed biscuits and toasted pecans for extra crunch and flavour.
3. Pumpkin Spice Scones with Pumpkin Seeds
These Pumpkin Spice Scones with Pumpkin Seeds are a gorgeous and fragrant bake. They have the traditional scone texture with a soft, delicate crumb inside a crunchy crust. The added pumpkin puree helps make them extra moist while the pumpkin spice helps flavour the dough. They have pumpkin seeds added on top before baking so they lightly toast through the bake and provide an added crunch. These would be delicious served warm with maple butter or whipped cream.
4. Pumpkin Spice Cake with Pecans
This Pumpkin Spice Cake with Pecans combines all the delicious flavours of Pumpkin Pie but in cake form! It’s soft and moist and lightly spiced. This cake goes really well with cream cheese frosting (recipe here with my carrot cake!), vanilla buttercream or experiment with a whipped ganache.
5. Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Whipped Ganache
This Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Whipped Ganache Recipe is the perfect icing or frosting for those who don’t enjoy a sweet typical buttercream. It’s light and airy like whipped cream but has the smoothness of a buttercream with an added depth of pumpkin spice. This whipped ganache can be used in multiple ways. Use it to ice a cake, to pipe onto cupcakes, to top a cheesecake, use it as a filling for macarons, eat it by the spoonful or use to top a pumpkin spice latte. This recipe makes enough to generously ice 9-10 cupcakes or enough to fill and top an 8 inch cake.
6. Pumpkin Spice Shaker Cookies
While these Pumpkin Shaker Cookies don’t actually contain any pumpkin, they are shaped like pumpkins and have some pumpkin spice flavouring the dough. They are so much fun to make and even more fun to play with! Three layers of biscuits are made, with holes cut out in the middle. Two of these three layers are then filled with isomalt. They are then sandwiched together with fun Halloween sprinkles inside. This means that when you shake the cookies, the sprinkles inside shake too!
Pumpkin Dessert FAQ
“Pumpkin spice (a.k.a. pumpkin pie spice) is an aromatic blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Sometimes allspice is included. You can buy the spice blend at the store or use ingredients you already have on hand to make DIY pumpkin spice.” (AllRecipes.com)
It is basically a blend of spices that is very popular in the USA around autumn. They use it to flavour pies, creams and even the famous Pumpkin Spice Latte which combines these spices along with coffee. It can be served hot or iced. You can buy Pumpkin Spice premade in American or specialty shops.
You can make your own by combining equal parts ground ginger, ground nutmeg, mixed spice and double the cinnamon. So for every 1 teaspoon of ginger, use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. It can be combined and stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
You should be able to find pumpkins in supermarkets near the end of October, usually leading up to Halloween. If you are lucky enough to live near a pumpkin patch, they may be holding events where you can pick you own. Alternatively, you can buy canned pumpkin puree from American and specialty shops.
For countries outside of North America, it can be difficult to source pumpkins or they don’t appear in stores until the week of Halloween. This can be frustrating if you wanted to make a delicious pumpkin dessert before this. However, I have tested out another vegetable which is very similar to pumpkin… butternut squash! It has a similar colour and flavour and creates a wonderfully smooth puree that can be used to replace pumpkin puree in any bake.
To make butternut squash puree for any recipe, begin by peeling the butternut squash. Carefully slice the squash in half and remove any seeds from the middle. Chop into a rough medium dice and place onto a lined baking tray. Cover the baking tray fully in tinfoil. Bake at 180°c (360°f) for 20-25 minutes until soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once nearly cool, blend until smooth using a hand blender or blender. Alternatively, you could use a fork and mash well. Allow to cool fully before adding to this recipe. If you are using fresh pumpkin you can also use this method to make pumpkin puree.
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