Pumpkin Dip

I haven't been blogging much lately, because I have been baking a lot and "helping" Tim with some home improvement projects.

Since the weather had turned a little cooler, I started craving comfort food like a crazy lady.  Comfort to me usually involves butter and sugar.  I made caramel apple sticky buns, chocolate chip cookie sweet rolls, a huge pan of pumpkin bars (with cream cheese frosting, of course), and an apple pizza.  In a half-hearted effort to protect my waistline, most of this food has been sent to work with Tim-- after I do quite a bit of sampling.

It all started with Dip Day.  You see, since there are so many delicious dips in this world, I thought my work place should make an effort to celebrate them once a week.  So on Thursdays, to help celebrate Christmas Spirit Day, we bring dip in to work to share.  I thought I would kick things off the first week with pumpkin dip and some molasses cookies.  Yum, yum, yum!!  This recipe is so simple, but it is a nice change from chips and salsa.  Make it for your holiday parties coming up.

Here's what you need: just 5 simple ingredients.

 Canned pumpkin, powdered sugar, cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, and Cool Whip.

Place the pumpkin and the softened cream cheese in your mixer bowl.

Give it a good stir.  I think the paddle attachment works best for this step, but that's just personal preference.

Realize that the lighting in your kitchen isn't very good after dark, and reach over to turn on the light above the sink, and almost turn on your garbage disposal and scare the bujebbers out of yourself.  Then turn on the light and realize it doesn't make much difference-- the days are just getting shorter...which is why you are making pumpkin dip.

The paddle didn't quite get the lumps out, so I switched to the whisk attachment to finish things off.

Now get a heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.  Take a moment to stop and smell the spices.  Mmm!  Now that is the smell of comfort.

Dump it in.

And the powdered sugar.

Place the shield on top of the bowl so the sugar doesn't go everywhere, then give it a good stir.

Boofitul.

Cool Whip has recently started perforating the plastic bands on their containers, which has greatly improved my quality of life.  I don't know what took them so long. 

Now, the recipe says to fold in 4-6 oz of Cool Whip but I always put the full 8 oz container in. Why fuss around?  It makes it super fluffy.

Fold it all in with a spatula.  DO NOT mix it in with the mixer!  It with de-fluff that whip before you know what hit you.  I highly recommend running your finger along the spatula and tasting this deliciousness.  SO good.

Serve it with some homemade molasses cookies if your super motivated and wifish like me :)  Or ginger snaps, or graham crackers.  Other ideas we have tossed around at my workplace are to put it in a bowl with nuts on top and call it a salad, put it in a graham cracker crust and call it a pie... or just grab a spoon and eat it as is.  Aunt Wendy says it makes a great frosting for a pumpkin cake recipe she has, but I haven't tried that yet.  Maybe I should.

Thanks, Aunt Wendy, for opening up my world to this creative way to eat pumpkin.  I love you!

PUMPKIN DIP

Blend: 

• 1 can pumpkin (the smaller size) 
• 8 oz cream cheese

Add: 

• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg)
• 2 c powdered sugar
• 4 to 6 oz Cool Whip (I do 8 oz)

Blend well and enjoy!