Pumpkin Pie Re-Invented. Pumpkin Pie Parfait.

Fall is here and I love seeing all of these wonderful pumpkin recipes floating through the blogosphere! I love this time of year because I immediately think of pumpkin patches, photos with the kids, falling leaves, baking pumpkin bread and, of course, pumpkin pie. I pretty much try to consume as much pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread as possible from now until Thanksgiving.

Growing up, we always bought pumpkin pie from the grocery store. Why not? I mean they’re cheap, readily available to eat and taste pretty good. This year, however, I’ll be baking – surprise- and have been brainstorming ideas on how to change up this recipe.  For the pumpkin pie part, if you want traditional pumpkin pie, there’s not much more to change up in my mind (with the exception of some of the spices) and why mess with something that ain’t broke?  So, today I just focused on what to eat with my pumpkin pie and the crust.

My sister gave me the idea to incorporate crushed Oreo cookies. Love that. Brilliant in my book. And I took it one step further. You can’t just stop at the crushed Oreo. Oh no you can’t. I tried to do an ultimate pumpkin pie bar with a layer of brownie and cookie at the bottom but couldn’t figure out how I would bake everything together (different temps, different baking times etc). If someone else can figure this out, let’s talk. I would seriously love to eat one of these.

WARNING: For those of you on a diet. .  you might want to stop reading here. .  all healthy goes out the window with this one. I mean, come on. This IS dessert after all. And we’re celebrating Hip Foodie Mom being the featured Food Blog of the day today on the homepage of Foodista! Holla! I am so excited about this. So, because of this and I’m feeling good . . we’s going to get all crazy up in here. And there’s no room for healthy, I-can’t-eat-that-dessert peeps up in here. Sorry. Not today.

I hope you enjoy!

Print Recipe

Pumpkin Pie Re-Invented. Pumpkin Pie Parfait.

If you don't wish to serve this as a parfait, you can simply serve directly after cooling. After the pumpkin pie has cooled, and you have the ganache ready, pour it over the top and immediately sprinkle the crushed oreo cookie all over. MAKE AHEAD: If you'd like to serve chilled, assemble your parfaits and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Do not top with the whipped cream and shaved chocolate until right before serving.

Course: Dessert

Servings: 5 -6

Author: Hip Foodie Mom

Ingredients

• FOR THE GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST:
• Crushed graham crackers – 1 package of 9-10 crackers
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 6 Tbs. unsalted butter melted
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• FOR THE PUMPKIN PIE:
• 1 - 15 oz can of canned pumpkin
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• if you have the Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend from Trader Joe's, you can just use 1 teaspoon of this and add 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice and salt
• FOR THE GANACHE AND TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate morsels
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Crushed oreo cookies about 20 cookies
• Whipped cream
• Shaved chocolate to sprinkle on top

Instructions

• FOR THE GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST:
• Place your graham crackers into a large, sealed ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat tenderizer until really fine. Place into a bowl.
• Mix all of the ingredients together.
• Press the graham cracker mix into your baking pan or pie pan. You can use the back of a spoon to make sure the mixture is flat throughout.
• FOR THE PUMPKIN PIE:
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the pumpkin, heavy cream, milk, eggs, brown sugar, spices and salt. Pour into your pie crust and bake for about 50-55 minutes.
• Transfer to rack to cool completely, about 20-30 minutes. You can also place your pie into the refrigerator to cool and solidify faster if desired, AFTER the pie has cooled down to lukewarm.
• During the last 5 minutes, while the pie is cooling, make the ganache:
• Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Combine the heavy cream and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
• Cook until small bubbles appear on the outside edge of the cream. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate chips. Using a fork or whisk, gently stir until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Let the ganache stand at room temperature to cool to lukewarm, just a few minutes.
• Place your Oreo cookies into a large, sealed ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat tenderizer until crushed fine. Place into a bowl.
• TO ASSEMBLE THE PARFAITS (from bottom to top):
• Layer the Oreo cookie crumble on the bottom and drizzle a little ganache over the cookies.
• Cut a piece of the pumpkin pie and lay on top of the oreo cookie layer. This will get a little messy but don't worry. Worst case you'll have a layer of pumpkin pie with the graham cracker crust mixed in a little and there's nothing wrong with that.
• Layer on some more oreo cookie and ganache if desired or just top with whipped cream and sprinkle shaved chocolate on top. Serve immediately.

Graham cracker crust adapted from Make and Takes. Pumpkin Pie recipe adapted from Trader Joe’s. I actually prefer Libby’s canned pumpkin more than TJ’s Organic Pumpkin but both are good choices.