You Had Me at Pumpkin

Well, it's time to face reality--Thanksgiving is almost here, and once it's passed, the season of pumpkin will come to a close. I'm a seasonal flavor baker...citrus belongs in the summer, pumpkin in the fall, peppermint in the winter, and everything green in the month of March. Literally the only thing I eat year round dessert-wise is ice cream. I love the stuff so much that if I could only eat one dessert for the rest of my life, that would be it. And considering how much I eat dessert, my calcium intake would be off the charts. Bones so strong they're indestructible! ...thus fulfilling my lifelong dream of becoming a Terminator. But, luckily for you guys, that'll never happen. And also luckily for my husband, the final pumpkin dessert of the season is here. If I baked with pumpkin as often as I wanted to, I'm fairly certain he'd have left me a long time ago, citing irreconcilable differences (a.k.a., my wife uses an obscene amount of pumpkin spice). I definitely wanted this baking season to go out with a bang, so I came up with a low-cal dessert guaranteed to wow everyone at your Thanksgiving festivities next week: pumpkin cheesecake lasagna.

Epic taste lies within!

All the best things have layers. Fall outfits, ice cream cakes, my personality...so this pumpkin cheesecake lasagna fits the bill in both the scrumptious and seasonally appropriate categories. Considering the original Tasty recipe was full of all of the fats, I knew I had to come up with a way to make this low cal. There was no way I was going to be able to write off something called pumpkin cheesecake lasagna. Those are three of my favorite things all combined into one blissful dessert experience. I was able to get clever and managed to bring the calorie count down to a respectable 205 calories a slice for 12 slices. If you went for smaller slices, you could go for 15 slices at 164 calories a pop. No pumpkin pie in the world can say the same, and they don't even have layers. Amateurs. Considering I am all about the "bake ahead" when it comes to Thanksgiving, this dessert demands it! It's best if you make it the night before you want to serve it, so this definitely frees up space in the kitchen on Turkey Day.

Just don't forget the caramel. Because I have for like two nights in a row, but we didn't even notice because this is just that good.

The ingredients are also incredibly simple. You don't have to beg a health food store to sell you specialty ingredients for less than fifty bucks a pound or anything. All you need is:

• 1 brick of 1/3 less fat cream cheese at room temp
• 2 heaping TBS of Truvia Baking Blend
• 1 1/2 cups of Cool Whip Free
• 2 cups of skim milk
• 2 large (1.5 ounce each) packages of sugar free instant vanilla pudding
• 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4-1 cup pumpkin puree(I used 3/4 cup because it was what I had left in the fridge, but it was definitely plenty)
• Reduced fat cinnamon graham cracker sheets (14 1/2 sheets total)
• Optional: caramel for drizzle, pecans for topping

Start by mixing the cream cheese and Truvia in a stand mixer for a few minutes until fluffy. Then spoon in the Cool Whip Free and blend on low until well mixed. Set this aside.

Oh pumpkin, I shall miss you most of all.

 In a medium mixing bowl, dump the pumpkin spice, pumpkin puree, and both instant pudding packages. Then add in all of the milk--this will be very stiff (perhaps less so if you use the full cup of pumpkin), so mix until everything is incorporated:

And definitely looks of pumpkiny goodness.

 Now, get a glass 9x13 baking pan. I say glass because you want to be able to ooh and ahh at your lasagna layers. Hold on to your butts--it's time for a crappy photo montage!

To secure your graham crackers, put a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture on the bottom of your pan.

Then lay out your graham crackers. I fit 7 and 1/4 sheets on my bottom layer. I am nothing if not precise.

You stiff, delicious bastard.

 I wasn't kidding when I said the pumpkin mixture was stiff. I had to hold down my graham crackers while I initially spread the pumpkin mixture over them to keep them from flying around everywhere. You can try heating things up in the microwave to thin them out, but this didn't make a huge difference to me. Had I had a full cup of pumpkin puree leftover, this probably would've been way easier, but I couldn't justify opening a new can to only use a 1/4 cup and then get thrown away due to pumpkin season termination. You only want to use HALF of your pumpkin mixture at this point. Spread it as evenly as you can with a rubber spatula...perhaps a heated metal/angled spatula might make this process easier.

Thankfully, the cheesecake layer is much nicer.

On top of the pumpkin layer, add a layer of HALF of the cheesecake mixture. Smooth out as best as you can. I used a separate rubber spatula for this so I wouldn't have to wash my pumpkin spatula over and over because I am insanely lazy. I've been known to buy everything in twos because of this. Cost effective? Nope. Super efficient? Yep.

Not pictured: the break I needed to take from smoothing out pumpkin mixture to give my arm some rest.

 On top of the cheesecake layer, add the remaining graham crackers. Top the graham crackers with the rest of the pumpkin mix:

After this, you get to lick the spatula!

 And finish off your lasagna layers with the last of the cheesecake mixture:

After this, you get to lick the OTHER spatula!

 Laziness has its benefits. Two spatulas equals twice the taste testing. I sprinkled some additional pumpkin spice on top of my cheesecake layer because a) I like sprinkles and b) I have a pumpkin spice problem.

But it's a pretty way to finish off the lasagna. Think of it like the sprinkling of oregano on top of a regular lasagna. +1 for presentation!

Smooshed layers are still delicious!

 Cover your pumpkin cheesecake lasagna with foil and place in the fridge to set overnight. If you licked your spatulas clean, you already know what greatness will await you for Thanksgiving dessert. You may even want to start a new tradition where you eat dessert first and then pick at the bird. I'm not judging you--I think it's the best idea I've ever had. I say, make it the cheatiest of cheat days! Of course, you're not really cheating when dessert has fewer calories than your sweet potato casserole.

But it is still pretty orange either way.

 After you've let your dessert set overnight, keep it in the fridge until you're ready to serve. You don't want soupy cheesecake lasagna. I'm sure there's a lasagna soup recipe out there, but I can guarantee you it doesn't belong in the dessert category. Serve with a drizzle of caramel sauce, and if you love pecans, throw some of those on top, too! Dream big! It's the best eating day of the year.

Thank you for being you, Thanksgiving.

 When my husband has the rare opportunity to take a bite of a dessert before I do (hi, I'm a glutton and inhale my food) and his first reaction is that "yum" noise (you know the one), I know it's a great dessert. So imagine my surprise when this totally pumpkin concoction elicited said "yum" noise from my husband--whose feelings about pumpkin spice are just "meh." He loved it. I'm trying to come up with a new word for how I feel about this dessert because the word "love" simply doesn't suffice. I would eat the entire pan in one sitting if given the opportunity. Whatever the combination of love and obsession is, that's how I feel about this pumpkin cheesecake lasagna. Each layer really stands out--you get the smooth cheesecake mixing with that nice, thick layer of pumpkin spice pudding, and the graham crackers add a nice cinnamon zip. Not to mention the few times I have remembered to add caramel on top, it perfectly encapsulated the flavor that most of us associate with fall. While I'm incredibly sad pumpkin season has ended in this house, I'm ecstatic that fudge and peppermint season is almost upon us. I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving. Take time to appreciate the Big Four F's: family, friends, food, and football. 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Less than 12 months until you're back in my life, pumpkin spice!