White Chocolate Pumpkin Fluff

When I started seriously considering this pumpkin challenge, I considered the cost of so much pumpkin. We had three pie pumpkins left over from Halloween that we never got around to carving, and I had one can of pumpkin puree in the cupboard already, but twenty-seven days of pumpkin was going to take a lot more pumpkin than just that. So I crossed my fingers and hoped that pumpkin would be one of Kroger's 10 for $10 specials this week, and it was! (So is cranberry sauce, so if you need either, this is the week to stock up.)  Since many of my recipes only call for half a cup or a quarter cup or even a tablespoon of pumpkin, eleven cans should do me most of the month.

This afternoon we're going to our friend's son's first birthday party. I offered to bring that pumpkin dip I talked about yesterday. I first tasted the pumpkin dip a few weeks ago at a craft night. That night I asked Laura how she made it, then immediately forgot. Since then, I've been searching the internet for the same recipe and have discovered many, many variations of pumpkin dip.

I decided for little Mikey's party today, I'm make my own variation.

Using the past wisdom of those pumpkin-dip-makers before me, I've settled on what I think was Laura's basic recipe, with one tiny little addition: white chocolate.

I personally think chocolate goes surprisingly well with pumpkin, as one who likes to mix chocolate chips into her pumpkin bread, but I was a little afraid to go all the way with chocolate pudding mix and chocolate morsels. If I weren't making this to take to a party, I'd probably have tried the full on chocolate. But since I didn't want to take the chance, I went with white chocolate, which is much safer. And it turned out yummy!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Fluff

Ingredients
1 1oz package of white chocolate instant pudding mix
1 8oz pack of cream cheese, softened
1 15oz can of pumpkin puree
1/2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice or Allspice
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip
1/2 cup of white chocolate morsels

Optional Small hollowed out pumpkin for serving

*The photo shows vanilla pudding mix, because I'd already thrown out the torn up box before thinking to take a picture of the ingredients. Vanilla pudding mix would work just fine.
*It also shows French Vanilla Cool Whip. Normal Cool Whip would be perfectly fine, I just happened to see the vanilla kind and wanted to try it! 

Whisk pudding mix, cream cheese, pumpkin and spice with hand mixer until creamy. Lick whisk afterwards. (Important step, very important.)  Fold in Cool Whip, then chocolate chips with spatula. Chill until ready to serve. Serve with apples or other fruits, graham crackers or Teddy Grahams, animal crackers or vanilla wafers. Whatever you fancy!
I also hollowed out one of my small pumpkins for serving, reserving the seeds for roasting later. The recipe made twice what would fit in the pumpkin, so I am freezing the other half. I'll let you know how well it thaws. (The Cool Whip was not frozen originally.)


This recipe is yummy. I asked Scott to try it. He turned his nose up and said he didn't want to, but I reminded him of our house rule "Try everything" (his own rule actually), so he scooped a little onto a cinnamon graham and gave it a taste. He was once again impressed. He commented that it was very light and fluffy and fresh. He took a few more scoops, cursing me for ruining his diet. The white chocolate is very subtle, I think, and the morsels just give it an extra bit of texture. I can't wait to let the party guests try it. I hope no one else brings pumpkin dip too... It's apparently very popular this year.