Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Fruit Dip ♥

Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Fruit Dip, more pumpkin fun ♥ AVeggieVenture.com. Just four ingredients and ten minutes.
Hey, fruit people. Here's a great way to up your fruit game, an autumn version of that favorite cream cheese dip, just cream cheese, canned pumpkin, a natural sweetener like maple syrup or honey, plus the all-important pumpkin pie spice. As fruit dips go, this one is unusually healthy thanks to a high proportion of pumpkin:cream cheese and a small measure of sweetener.

Real Food, Fast & Casual. Just Ten Minutes & Four Ingredients. Budget Friendly. Little Effort, Big Taste. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Great for Meal Prep. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free.


October in Small-Town Missouri

October 1, my hometown farmers market makes a magical transformation: the row of farmstands becomes a pumpkin patch playground, the perimeter lined with hay bales. Little ones play bumper tractors as the moms and grandparents look on, often recording the squeals of delight. Out front is a pile – more of an engineering feat, really – of many-sized pumpkins, minis to mammoths.

When my Lady Dog was a puppy and teaching me to heel, the farmers market water spigot was a frequent destination. During that first October, as we approached, she would warily eye the pumpkin pile, the bulbous shapes, the alarming color, sensing I always figured, the frightening faces of the pumpkins' inner jack o' lanterns. Mustering bravery, she would bark – furiously, wildly – pulling at the leash to attack the vicious orange creatures.

Isn't October grand?!

I thought about Lady's pumpkin fear while throwing the ingredients for this easy-easy pumpkin dip into the food processor – wondering if I should have made time to roast a whole pumpkin.
But then, tasting the dip – it's delicious! – I was just as happy to use the oh-so-convenient canned pumpkin.

The recipe comes from Margie, one of my OCHER-Yaya friends, who suggests serving it with Granny Smith apples and ginger cookies. I'd vote for these old-fashioned favorites, Molasses Cookies.

Me, I love it schmeared onto a bagel or a slice of my forever-favorite recipe for pumpkin bread. I even stirred a spoonful into my morning oatmeal: excellent! Unlike some pumpkin spreads I've tasted, this one really tastes like pumpkin, that's a good thing!

COMPLIMENTS!
"It was delicious spread on a hot English muffin." ~ Maris


Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Fruit Dip, more pumpkin fun ♥ AVeggieVenture.com. Just four ingredients and ten minutes.





PUMPKIN-CREAM CHEESE FRUIT DIP

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 3 cups

16 ounces (454g) canned pumpkin puree
8 ounces (212g) cream cheese
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Maple syrup, honey, sorghum, powdered sugar (or another sweetener), to taste

In a food processor, mix the pumpkin, cream cheese and pumpkin pie spice until smooth, scraping the sides as necessary. A tablespoon at a time, stir in the maple syrup or other sweetener until reaching the right sweetness for your taste.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
PUMPKIN Be sure to get 100% pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix which is already spiced and sugared. This dip is a great way to use up canned pumpkin. For example, one year I made a batch of Light & Fluffy Homemade Whole-Grain Bread & Buns, it has such pretty orange color, especially for fall and autumn feasts like Thanksgiving. But the bread only uses 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin so I used the rest to make Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Fruit Dip! That 1/3 cup wasn't missed ...
CREAM CHEESE For cream cheese, I nearly always choose the lower-fat neufchatel (how to pronounce neufchatel). It's a winner, there's no telling the difference. FYI to my taste, non-fat cream cheese is gummy and vile and is to be avoided at all cost! Could you use goat cheese or ricotta? Without a doubt! What about non-fat Greek yogurt? Yes, I think so, that would make a big difference for Weight Watchers since non-fat yogurt is a "free" food. See Weight Watchers Zero Point "Free" Food Lists for more info ...
PUMPKIN PIE SPICE is a common spice blend but it's so easy to mix your own, there's really no reason to shell out the money. For this recipe, I used 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ginger but my "official" pumpkin pie spice is here with other blends, DIY Spice Blends & Homemade Seasonings.
SWEETENER The original recipe called for 2 whole cups of powdered sugar, whoah, that would make this sweet-sweet-sweet and almost an icing. It also explains why the original recipe also called for thinning the dip a bit with orange juice. Margie recommended using less sugar so I started with just 1/4 cup of sugar and would have been happy to stop here but my taste testers asked for another 1/4 cup for a fruit dip that's slightly sweet but lets the pumpkin flavor itself come through. For maple syrup, honey, sorghum and other "wet" sweeteners, my taste buds declare "that's enough" at 6 tablespoons.


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Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

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2008, 2010 & 2020

Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. I've been making this recipe for years (with more powdered sugar, but not orange juice), and I love to dip gingersnaps on it. The hard crispy kind you buy at the store, bot the softer homemade kind. So yummy.

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  2. I just made this very same dip this morning! I used a little bit less pumpkin because I was using leftovers from another recipe but it was delicious spread on a hot english muffin.

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  3. Can't wait to try this! Great idea :D

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  4. Looks great, I'm always looking for more pumpkin recipes.

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  5. Oh wow!!

    I have never heard of this recipe, and I think I will be a better person for having seen this!

    I will definately be trying this soon.

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  6. I bet that takes apple wedges to a whole new dimension!

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  7. This looks great!

    I have to find a way to do it dairy-free. Maybe Tofutti cream cheese or I might try silken tofu. Thanks for the recipe!

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  8. Janelle ~ Love the idea of gingersnaps, great idea. You inspired me to try the dip with my molasses cookies, yumm!

    Maris ~ So funny! This would be great on a breakfast bread, since it's not so-so sweet.

    Lenora ~ Let me know how it goes!

    Sara ~ Pumpkin is cheap and healthful, so the more recipes the better.

    LadyLiriel ~ Ha, a better person indeed.

    Sylvie ~ Fall apples + fall pumpkin = New Dimension. Yes!

    Maggie ~ Ah yes, a vegan version, let me know what you come up with.

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  9. I bought all the ingredients, plus apples and I may make ginger snaps. Thank you!

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  10. I thought the picture looked familiar!

    My kids love this dip too, and enjoy it on the sun porch when they visit Grandma.

    Thanks for the reminder to dip the can of pumpkin out from the back of the pantry!

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  11. Holy cow what a great recipe! I'm so making that this weekend.

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  12. This looks awesome! Can't wait to try it!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna