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Pumpkin Delight

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Low Carb Pumpkin Delight with the best brown sugar pecan crust

The most delicious “brown sugar” crust topped with a cream cheese layer, pumpkin pudding, whipped cream, and sweet/salty pecan crumbs – this Pumpkin Delight is going to be your favorite autumn dessert! THM S, low carb

Recipe origins

I don’t usually “THM-ify” recipes per suggestion, but when I do…they’re layered pumpkin desserts that looked so good that I couldn’t resist.

This Pumpkin Delight post has been on my website since September 2014, and you can find the (mostly) original recipe on page 368 of Necessary Food, my first cookbook. (That version was actually already tweaked a bit from the very, very original.) The recipe in this blog post has been updated with an amazing “brown sugar” pecan crust (from this Cinnamon Cheesecake recipe), simplified ingredients, better sweetness, and nutrition info.

 

How to make Pumpkin Delight:

  1. Mix up the simple crust and prebake it. Chill.
  2. Mix up the 4 ingredient cream cheese layer and spread it over the chilled crust.
  3. Make the pumpkin pudding layer and chill it to let it firm up, then spread it gently over the crust + cream cheese layer. Chill the dessert for several hours or overnight to firm up.
  4. Make the crumbs and set aside until assembly.
  5. Soon before serving, make the whipped cream. Top the delight with the whipped cream and crumbs.
  6. Dig in!

 

But that’s a big list of ingredients!

Don’t let the ingredients list scare you: most of those ingredients are used more than once in this recipe, so you’re seeing a lot of repeats. This is a layered dessert, after all.

It’s a more involved recipe than I normally make/post, but needs must for special occasions and holiday cravings. And honestly, the process is pretty simple.

Unfortunately I had to eat the whole pan while testing this recipe, since Ryan isn’t really into pumpkin. I’m not usually a huge pumpkin fan myself, but I’ve gotta say, I did not mind eating the whole pan of this Pumpkin Delight. Something works in this recipe, let me tell ya. That crust, and those crumbs – they take pumpkin to another level.

 

Some more delight recipes:

 

 

As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for helpful info and answers to frequently asked questions!

 

You may also enjoy:

 

 

 

 

 

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Pumpkin Delight

★★★★★

4.5 from 2 reviews
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Description

The most delicious “brown sugar” crust topped with a cream cheese layer, pumpkin pudding, whipped cream, and sweet/salty pecan crumbs – this Pumpkin Delight is going to be your favorite autumn dessert! THM S, low carb

This Pumpkin Delight is very rich and can definitely be more than 9 servings!

Ingredients

CRUST:

 

CREAM CHEESE LAYER:

  • 1 ½ (8 ounce) packages reduced fat cream cheese (room temperature) – 12 ounces total
  • 2 teaspoons THM Super Sweet Blend (or more, to taste)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream

 

PUMPKIN LAYER:

 

 

CRUMB TOPPING:

  • ½ cup freshly ground pecan meal*
  • 1 teaspoon THM Super Sweet Blend
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • Hearty pinch of salt (to taste)

 

WHIPPED CREAM:

Instructions

*To make the pecan meal, grind pecan halves to a coarse meal texture in a coffee grinder (you could also use a food processor or mini chopper). Measure after grinding. It’s important to use freshly ground pecan meal because the oils released from the nuts help bind the crust together. If you don’t have a good source for pecans you could try using almond flour and some extra butter (as needed for binding) in place of the pecan meal, but I really like the pecans in this recipe.

CRUST: Mix the ingredients together. I use a fork and some elbow grease, but you can use a hand mixer if you prefer. Press the crust into a greased 8” x 8” glass pan and bake at 350*F for 10 minutes or until the crust goes a little darker around the edges. Chill completely before assembling the delight.

CREAM CHEESE LAYER: Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth, then add the sweetener and vanilla and beat again. Add the heavy whipping cream and beat until the cream fluffs up and ridges form while beating. Taste and adjust sweetness as desired. Spread onto the chilled crust and chill again before adding the pumpkin layer.

PUMPKIN LAYER: Bloom the gelatin in the almond milk by whisking them together in a glass measuring cup and letting the mixture sit on the counter for a few minutes. Then heat the almond milk + gelatin until nearly boiling; I did this in the microwave. (It took just shy of 1 minute in my microwave.) Watch closely and remove the measuring cup from the microwave as soon as the almond milk starts bubbling around the edges of the cup and foaming up. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes so it’s not piping hot before proceeding with the recipe.

While the almond milk mixture is still warm (but not hot), add it to a blender along with the rest of the pumpkin layer ingredients. Add the glucomannan last and blend immediately so it doesn’t clump. You don’t need to blend this long at all; you don’t want to turn the cream to butter. Blend for about 10 seconds or until the mixture is smooth and gets a little lighter in color. Scrape down the sides of the blender, then blend for another couple of seconds. Transfer the pumpkin mixture to a bowl, cover, and chill to firm up.

Once the pumpkin layer is cool and fairly firm and the crust + cream cheese layer are fully chilled, gently spread the pumpkin layer on top of the cream cheese layer with an offset spatula. Cover the delight and chill in the refrigerator until completely firm – for at least several hours, and overnight is great to let the sweetness level out.

CRUMB TOPPING: Go ahead and mix the ingredients together and save in a sealed container at room temperature until ready to use. The salt rounds out the sweetness of the delight and accents all the flavors. You could probably get away with half this amount of crumbs, but I like to have plenty and leftovers are great on other stuff too – like my morning oatmeal.

Once the bottom three layers are firm, soon before serving…

WHIPPED CREAM: Add the stevia to the heavy cream in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer to thicken a bit. Add the xanthan gum while beating, then continue to beat until the cream is stiff (but not butter!).

FINAL ASSEMBLY: Spread the whipped cream onto the chilled pumpkin delight. Top with a generous sprinkling of the crumb topping. Return to the fridge to chill until serving.

This delight keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

Equipment

Notes

Oat fiber: This versatile low carb flour can usually only be found online. Not all brands are created equal, but I like LifeSource oat fiber. Use gluten free oat fiber for a gluten free option.

Molasses: This is allowed on the Trim Healthy Mama plan in small amounts (1/4 teaspoon per serving) for flavor. I like Grandma’s brand molasses from Walmart or a local grocery store. Blackstrap molasses is recommended I believe, but the nutrition info isn’t that different from Grandma’s and I don’t like the taste nearly as well. Molasses IS technically a sweetener, but it’s not refined sugar and is only used in a small amount for flavor so I’m still calling this recipe sugar free. 😉 The molasses is responsible for the “brown sugar” flavor in the crust. If you don’t want to use it you could try using a bit of maple extract in its place. (I’d start with ½ teaspoon.)

Sweetener: Use your favorite low glycemic sweetener in place of the THM Super Sweet Blend and THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (to taste) if you prefer. Always taste and adjust, even if using the same sweetener I did! Taste buds vary a lot with alternative sweeteners. A lot of people like to use more sweetener than I do.

You could use a granulated sweetener instead of the stevia in the whipped cream layer, but you’ll need to powder it in a coffee grinder first. The stevia is perfect for me – slightly sweetening the cream with no powdering necessary.

Glucomannan vs xanthan gum: I used both in this recipe. They’re generally interchangeable, but I slightly prefer one over the other in certain cases. Feel free to use either. Xanthan gum is typically available from local stores, while glucomannan can often only be found online.

Cutting down on calories: You could use just 8 ounces of cream cheese in the cream cheese layer for fewer calories, it just won’t be as thick and firm. You could also just use a squirt of Reddi-wip on top of each piece of pumpkin delight instead of doing the full whipped cream layer.

Allergy info: Gluten free (use gluten free oat fiber). Egg free.

Recipe updated 09.22.21. You can find the (mostly) original Pumpkin Delight recipe on page 368 of Necessary Food, my first cookbook. (That version was actually already tweaked a bit from the very, very original.) The recipe in this blog post has been updated with an amazing “brown sugar” pecan crust (from this Cinnamon Cheesecake recipe), simplified ingredients, better sweetness, and nutrition info.

  • Prep Time: 50 mins
  • Cook Time: 11 mins
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Bake + Mix
  • Cuisine: THM S, low carb, sugar free

Keywords: trim healthy mama, thm dessert recipes, thm pumpkin recipes, low carb pumpkin dessert recipes, low carb pumpkin delight, pumpkin and cream cheese, pumpkin and pecan

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Tag me at @brianamthomas - I can't wait to see your creations!

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Comments

  2. Dianna says

    Briana, I want to make your baking blend but I have an oat sensitivity and I’m allergic to almonds and gluten!😩What can I use instead of oat fiber?

    Dianna

    Reply

  3. Kristina says

    My recipe turned out bitter. I’m not sure what I did wrong. I’m not new to THM so I’m used to the bitterness of of stevia. I sooo want to love this recipe and I’m willing to try again.

    Reply

  5. Jan Ross says

    Brianna – I do not have ground golden flax but I do have the rest of the ingredients. What do you think about adding the flax meal instead……it’s like a heavy flour?

    Thank you so much for your blog and the great recipes.

    Reply

    • Briana Thomas Burkholder says

      Ground golden flax is the same thing as golden flaxmeal. 🙂 Back when I wrote this recipe I typically bought golden flax seeds at a bulk food store and ground them into flour in a coffee grinder. I recommend using golden flaxmeal instead of dark flaxmeal because the texture and taste are lighter. I believe you can purchase both from various places online (and maybe even find them at some local stores in the alternative flour section).

      Reply

    • Briana Thomas says

      Hi Stephanie! Thanks for your comment. I don’t usually calculate nutrition info on my recipes since the healthy eating lifestyle I follow doesn’t require it (Trim Healthy Mama) and I like to embrace that freedom, but MyFitnessPal is a super easy way to find nutrition facts! If you sign up for an account, under the Recipes tab there’s a place where you can just add the link to a recipe and it will pull up the ingredients for you to confirm, then generate the nutritional info! 🙂

      Reply

    • Briana Thomas says

      Hi there! I don’t usually calculate nutrition info on my recipes since the healthy eating lifestyle I follow doesn’t require it (Trim Healthy Mama), but MyFitnessPal is a super easy way to find nutrition facts! If you sign up for an account, under the Recipes tab there’s a place where you can just add the link to a recipe and it will pull up the ingredients for you to confirm, then generate the nutritional info! 🙂

      Reply

  8. Esther says

    How far ahead could I make this? Would it keep 2-3 days in the fridge? I’m sure I could make/freeze the crust well ahead, but not sure about how long this would be good in the fridge before serving. Just trying to cut down on the labor for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. 🙂

    Also, I don’t generally like the flavor of stevia – I like using coconut palm sugar since it doesn’t spike the blood sugar levels so fast. I can experiment, but how much “typical” sugar are you replacing in the recipe with the stevia amounts you’re using? Thanks!!

    Reply

    • Briana Thomas says

      It wouldn’t be ideal to keep it assembled for three days, but hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! Maybe you could keep the components separated and assemble them the morning of? I think that would probably be better.

      I’m actually not usually following traditional recipes when I create recipes (just creating and tasting as I go), so I’m not sure how much regular sugar you would need. I’m sorry! Since alternative sweeteners *and* individual taste buds vary so much, I always recommend starting with less sweetener than you think you’ll need, then adding and tasting as you go so you don’t accidentally get too much when replacing the sweeteners that I call for in the recipe. 🙂

      Reply

      • Esther says

        Oh that’s a good idea!! I’ll make up the components, and assemble the layers on Christmas morning. Thank you for the suggestion.

        You’re right – I’ll guesstimate a lower amount of my coconut sugar and work up from there. Not much point making a healthy dessert and then mucking it up with a too-sweet result!! LOL

        Reply

  11. Andrea Bidlack says

    Do you happen to have the nutritional info on this? I am looking so a friend can figure for her child with Type 1 diabetes

    Reply

  12. Kelly says

    This looks amazing, I I really want to make this for Thanksgiving. Any suggestions for making it dairy free? I was thinking of omitting the cream cheese layer and using full fat coconut milk instead of heavy whipping cream. Do you think that would work?

    Reply

    • Briana Thomas says

      I’m not that well-versed in dairy substitution so I’m probably not the one to ask, but it would be worth a try at least!

      Reply

    • Carmen says

      I’ve made whipped cream from coconut milk (canned) before. You just chill the can, scoop the cream off of the top and whip it in a stand mixer. You could also make a cashew cream cheese for the center layer or buy a vegan cream cheese.

      I’m going to try this for Thanksgiving this year! I had picked out another pumpkin cheesecake but I’m really trying to stay away from large amounts of sugar and this looks perfect!

      Reply

  13. Jen says

    You need to STOP calling your recipes low carb. I follow a ketogenic diet which is less than 20 total carbs a day and low-carbers know that low fat diary products are unhealthy garbage as sugar is added to compensate the lack of fat. Which by, the way, fat doesn’t make you fat, just like sugar doesn’t make you sweet. Sugar (and excess carbs) cause diabetes, heart disease, obesity, to name a few. Low carb recipes would call for BUTTER, HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM and FULL FAT CREAM CHEESE. I get you want more followers but it’s annoying misrepresentation that shows dietary ignorance. J

    Reply

    • Briana Thomas says

      Ketogenic diets aren’t the only kind of low-carbing out there. According to Wikipedia, there’s nothing wrong with the way I’ve categorized my recipes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet).
      You can find out more about the healthy eating lifestyle I follow here >> https://www.briana-thomas.com/starting-trim-healthy-mama/
      Feel free to use full fat products in this and all my recipes. 🙂 I actually specifically mentioned that in this recipe.

      Reply

      • Mindy Castro says

        Hello
        I was wondering if you have the net carbs on this. From what I entered in my fitness pal and what I know I put in, I think I got 7 net carbs per piece.

        Just wanted to make sure.
        Thanks
        Mindy

        Reply

        • Briana Thomas says

          Hi Mindy! I don’t usually calculate the nutritional info for my recipes since I follow a healthy eating plan called Trim Healthy Mama that doesn’t require counting and I like to embrace that freedom and just keep my carbs and fats separated. 🙂 MyFitnessPal is a great app though, and I’m sure your calculations are close.

          Reply

    • Linda says

      Low carb is low carb not ketogenic. It is rude to berate someone and call them ignorant. Please be kinder to each other, we have enough hate in the world.

      ★★★★

      Reply

    • Briana Thomas says

      I honestly haven’t worked much with walnuts, so I’m not sure if they’d change things much or not. Feel free to try it, though!

      Reply