The other day I was perusing the refrigerated section of Trader Joe’s and I saw a little tub of pumpkin cream cheese. The tub looked up at me with its beady little eyes and said, “I dare you to make your own pumpkin cream cheese, Tracy.”
Clearly I showed that tub who’s boss!
If you’ve got extra pumpkin puree hanging out in your fridge, you can put it to good use with this recipe. Pumpkin cream cheese tastes just like a subtly sweet pumpkin cheesecake. Sounds good, right? It pairs perfectly with: crackers, gingerbread, graham crackers, cookies, bagels, you name it. Now if only I could convince Cooper to try some. His stubbornness just means more for me, right? I totally win this battle.
And we’re off!
Gather your ingredients. Plop your softened cream cheese in a bowl. Add vanilla.
Here comes the pumpkin! And then maple syrup enters the picture.
STIR! And now add in the brown sugar.
SPICE TIME! Ginger & cinnamon!
Stir stir stir. Put the cream cheese into the fridge for about an hour.
Spread some on crackers.
Smear some on a slice of gingerbread.
Or eat it directly from the bowl. Choose your own adventure!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese
makes about 1 1/2 cups
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or agave)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cover bowl and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before using.
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47 Comments
say somethingWow. I was just 5 minutes ago perusing the new Martha where they made pumpkin butter. My husband loves pumkin muffins with cream cheese filing, so mythought was “why not pumpkin cream cheese?” I look at google reader and you had already done it. Perfect!
This sounds heavenly! Awesome idea!
I just made pumpkin spice bagels-this would go perfectly!
Talk about perfect timing to click over here; I have a half can of pumpkin just sitting on my counter waiting to be used. This will be the highlight of my bagel this afternoon. Thanks for sharing!
wow, Tracy, you are genius. This homemade cream cheese is a contender! none of that sissy store-bought tub!
Looks so thick, and is a gorgeous color. I can’t wait to make this – I have all the ingredients, too!! thank you!
I bought that pumpkin cream cheese from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago…and must admit that most of it made it into my mouth directly from a spoon, rather than on a bagel. Can’t wait to try your version!
Holy moley, this looks amazing! This would be perfect on a pumpernickel bagel with my morning chai latte. Thanks Tracy!
the cream cheese looks yummy, but I must admit that I’m pretty fixated on that nice, thick slice of gingerbread…
Whoa. Just. WHOA! That is monumentally amazing!
Excuse me while I got out and make this RIGHT NOW.
i want to dip graham crackers in that pumpkin-y goodness.
Goodness gracious. I need to make this. And then eat most of it all by myself while watching t.v.
xo
cortnie
Mmmmm… This sounds so good. Coincidently I have all these ingredients in my kitchen too!
I like your pumpkin spirit! I want to unlock the mysteries of TJ’s corn relish (the corn + chile in the salsa section). That stuff rocks my world.
oooh! i must try that. Maybe I can help you figure it out!
Yes! That would be awesome! I recently made red pepper relish (September Everyday Food! also obsessed), which was my first relish so I was thinking that could be a good starting point for a TJ corn relish hack.
I am sooo gonna make this for the weekend. Smeared all over bagels….glorious! Thank you for sharing!
Ooh, gorgeous! Great idea!
just finished a delicious tub of said trader joes pumpkin cream cheese and was totally thinking there has got to be an easy way to make this! can’t wait to try your recipe and thanks so much for sharing! ps…do you have a recipe for gingerbread too?! yums!
uhh-mazing recipe! you are correct, this tastes just like pumpkin cheesecake
Trader Joe’s makes me feel that way a lot.
I’m surprised I haven’t turned orange yet…from all the pumpkin I’ve been eating!
You won’t believe that I have exactly eight ounces of cream cheese for no apparent reason, and leftover pumpkin puree. Thank you!!
great idea! i’d like that on a bagel!
Yum! This spread looks scrumptious.
gimme those crackers.
THOSE are the crackers I couldn’t stop eating last week! AHH.
For those of us who NEED THIS IMMEDIATELY but live in places that don’t have canned pumpkin puree readily available, should we just boil up some pumpkin, drain, then whizz it till smooth?? I feel like this would be perfect at 3am when I come home from work….
I was drooling about this when you first posted it, but I didn’t have anything on hand to eat it with, so it went in the “make later” file. I since decided to make Joy’s whole wheat molasses bread tonight, and it wasn’t until I saw your recipe re-posted on The Kitchn that I realized it would probably be perfect with Joy’s bread. I’ll now be making both recipes tonight, so needless to say, I see a very happy belly in my near future.
now that’s GREAT teamworking!
This looks really really good!!!!!
Oh my. Just the title of the blog made me drool!! I totally have to make this! Was it just delicious to consume?! Yum! Thanks so much for posting
Made this recipe a few days ago and LOVING it! I’m putting it on everything…crackers, muffins, bread….oh the possibilities! Thank you
Awesome!!! So glad you tried it out.
I must make this!! But I don’t have maple sugar… do you think honey would work as a sub??
Yup! Or agave.
I’m going to try a fat-free, sugar-free version of this, before I get addicted to the full-octane version!
I just made this, but my end product seems pretty runny? I’m saying something, because yours doesn’t look runny at all. I used maple flavored agave syrup instead of good ole maple syrup, but other than that, followed the recipe precisely. Any ideas? It’s chillin’ in the refrigerator right now, perhaps that will make a difference. Oh, and also, mine is much lighter colored than yours.
Peculiar! It must be your agave syrup. I know that agave is generally more runny than maple syrup. Was your cream cheese watery at all? The lightness in color might have something to do with the canned pumpkin you used. The canned pumpkin I used from Trader Joe’s was a pretty bright orange. Crossing my fingers for your batch in the fridge!
I think it was the agave I used. The cream cheese wasn’t watery or over softened at all, I used Trader Joe’s brand. And the pumpkin I used was from there as well. It thickened up just a smidge overnight in the fridge, but is overall still kind of thin. Tastes very good, my kids approve of it on a slice of gingerbread. Thanks Tracy!!
I just made this Pumpkin Cream Cheese spread. Very, very good! Thanks for the recipe. I’m thinking I’ll use this w/gingerbread for Thanksgiving dessert.
I’ve been meaning to write to you how amazing this recipe is! I’ve made it three times since you posted it and everyone continues to rave about it. Serving it with Ritz has been our favorite – that salty top is the perfect balance to the dip. Today a batch is going to the fire department inspired by Julie. Thank you for your great recipes and inspiration! BTW, I’ve also been eating crispy corn tortillas with avocado and lemon nonstop this past week
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
I have made this in the past, and I’ll say, it’s also very delicious on French toast.
fabulous!!! I never buy anything I can make!!! great idea. thanks
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