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Ready for the easiest Thanksgiving dessert ever? Pumpkin Pie Parfaits are a fun, no-bake dessert that captures all the cozy vibes of fall. Served in adorable mason jars, they’re perfect for everything from Thanksgiving feasts to casual family dinners!
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
- Kid-Friendly Cooking: Kids 4 and up can do almost every step of this recipe on their own.
- Make Ahead Delight: It can be prepared 24 hours in advance, so all you need to do after dinner is pull the mason jars out of the fridge and serve.
- Fun to Enjoy: It’s a ton of fun plunging your spoon into the jar layered with pumpkin spice cream and graham crackers. It’s like pumpkin pie with a fun, modern twist!
- No-Bake Bliss: Your oven can get crowded when it comes to Thanksgiving. Skip the bake time and make this no-bake dessert instead!
- Portion perfect: Individual mason jars make for easy serving and a picture-perfect presentation. I love individual portions for Thanksgiving dinner like Apple Sausage Stuffing Bites, Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups or even Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes!
The Ingredients
- Graham crackers: This classic kid-friendly crunch is the perfect crisp layer in your jar. Buy from the store or make Homemade Graham Crackers.
- Cream cheese: Cream cheese adds a bit of tang to make this a cheesecake-like flavor.
- Whipping cream: Essential to create texture! This light and fluffy layer pairs nicely with the thick cream cheese.
- Pumpkin: It’s not a fall dessert without pumpkin!
- Brown sugar: Just a touch for that bit of sweetness!
- Spices: A touch of pumpkin pie spice to enhance the pureed pumpkin.
Substitutions and Variations
- Gluten free favorite: This dessert only contains gluten in the graham crackers, so feel free to substitute in your favorite gluten-free variety.
- Homemade pumpkin: It’s truly easy to Puréed Pumpkin at home. But you can absolutely use a can from the store too.
- No special spices? No problem. Don’t buy a jar of pumpkin pie spice if you have other spices on hand. You can simply sprinkle in cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves as you wish. And truly, if you only keep cinnamon on hand, then simply use a teaspoon of that.
How to Make Pumpkin Pie Parfaits
Step 1: Whip pumpkin and cream cheese until smooth.
Step 2: Whip cream in a bowl until light and fluffy.
Step 3: Crush graham crackers in their package or a ziploc bag.
Step 4: Alternate layers of all ingredients until jars are full.
Tips and Tricks
- Crush it: Crush the grahams right in their package! If you are worried it will split open or the kids will be a bit too enthusiastic, you can also use a plastic zippered baggie.
- Keep it cold: Make sure your cream is very cold so that it whips up easily.
- Mix well: Let the cream cheese sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to combine with the pumpkin.
FAQs
I think these are a great treat for all ages. I don’t have good recommendations to replace the dairy here, so this dessert will always contain dairy. However, you can easily find gluten-free graham crackers to use, making this acceptable for those with gluten allergies or intolerances.
Make these the night before serving! This makes them a perfect dessert to make ahead of any holiday meals. Because we assemble them in jars, you likely have lids on hand. I love that these are ready to serve! You can also give these to little hands as it will be much easier to eat a dessert in a jar rather than a slice of pie on a plate. They will safely last a few days in the fridge, but you do risk the whipped cream deflating and the graham crackers feeling soggy.
I love letting kids help with this recipe! The hand mixer is where I give them the most help. It’s a great way to teach them to keep their hair tied back and keep fingers out of the bowl. But they love using the stand mixer on their own with instruction, and can easily scoop layers into the jars.
More Pumpkin Recipes
These Pumpkin Pie Parfaits are everything you love about fall desserts, all wrapped up in a single jar. Easy to make, fun to serve, and even better to eat—this might just become your new go-to Thanksgiving treat!
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Pumpkin Pie Parfaits
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup whipped cream cheese, or non-whipped at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 sleeves graham crackers, crushed (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 10 8-ounce mason jars
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Layer the parfait ingredients into mason jars in this order: graham crackers, pumpkin cream cheese mixture, whipped cream. Continue to layer to fill the jar, at least 2 layers of each ingredient.
- Serve chilled.
Video
Notes
- Crush it: Crush the grahams right in their package! If you are worried it will split open or the kids will be a bit too enthusiastic, you can also use a plastic zippered baggie.
- Keep it cold: Make sure your cream is very cold so that it whips up easily.
- Mix well: Let the cream cheese sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to combine with the pumpkin.
I didn’t have mason jars so I just put it all in one large trifle dish. It was beautiful and so delicious!!
great idea!
I’ll take this over traditional pumpkin pie!! Beautiful!
so, what’s the nutritional breakdown here? just curious. LOTS of fat in this, as good as it sounds…
Thumbs up for kids helping out!!
What great pics! These look like so much fun to make….and eat!
WOW! What a fun and delicious dessert.
So Weelicious! I made these tonight and they were a hit. Thanks Catherine for yet another tasty treat.
This is actually appealing to me more than traditional pumpkin pie – yum!
I think that would work out just fine and be so pretty!
Could I try making this as one big parfait? I’d like to make them for Thanksgiving, but we’re having 16 people, so I thought it would be nice to make this, but all in one bowl. Would that work, or am I missing something?
About 3 days in the fridge! The recipe can easily be halved!
How long will these last? If it makes 10 we would have leftovers? 🙂
Yum! It’s like Lisa Leakes recipe! I’m totally taking hers and yours and doing it up! Thanks for the great idea!
Love the fact that they only have a few ingredients and look so pretty!
Your timing’s impeccable Catherine! I have mini-pie-pumpkins leftover from our Halloween decorations that my 4yo’s been asking if we can bake with. This will be perfect – thank you!