Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Dessert Shooters {No Bake}

Creamy pumpkin pie flavored cheesecake on a gingersnap-crumb crust– an easy, no-bake fall-time treat.

“The best dessert you have ever made” — Andi (my 10 year old sister)

I have a confession to make that feels borderline blasphemous to let loose during a time of year where pumpkin…everything… is at its height, at a time where people are clamoring to Starbucks for pumpkin spice this or that with the indomitable, single-minded hunger of a hoard of zombies on a fresh horse carcass (sorry… I’ve got The Walking Dead on the brain).

My confession is this…

I… don’t really like pumpkin.

I mean I love pumpkins–the sunny gourds that can be cheerfully gutted, scraped and carved into jovial, gap-toothed, flame-brained Jack O’Lanterns.  But their well-pureed innards that overwhelm each and every pie crust from October through November… well, I could do without that (I’m more of a caramel and apples fall food kinda girl).

It’s pumpkin pie that really  first turned me off from pumpkin… I’ve only ever been able to make my way through a slice if it was well concealed beneath at least a solid half-foot avalanche of whipped cream, and even then I’d just rather have something else.  Anything else.

So, why the pumpkin recipe today? Not only that, but why two pumpkin recipes so far this season alone (and, I’ll confess now, there’s at least one more waiting for you in the wings)?

Well, let’s just say I’m trying to expand my tastes.  I’m growing as a person.  I’m maturing and expanding my palate.

Though you will not find any classic pumpkin pies on my blog this year (and the ice cream one does not count), you will find variations of pumpkin recipes designed to appeal to even the most ardent disliker of pumpkin.  I eat everything I make on this blog, and so if it’s a pumpkin recipe, you should know that it is a darn good pumpkin recipe.  This one is so good, in fact, that my youngest sister declared them to be the “best” dessert I have ever made, and has asked me to make them again repeatedly.

This pumpkin/cheesecake filling is layered over a two-ingredient gingersnap crust that provides the perfect crunchy-crumb texture against the cheesecake layer.  The filling is a wonderful, festive blend of cream cheese, pumpkin, pumpkin spice and brown sugar, satisfying enough to convince you to leave Starbucks and their pumpkin shenanigans behind forever (or is that blasphemy to say, as well?).

I don’t often use Cool Whip in my recipes, preferring to make my own whipped cream, but considering the fact that so many people consider the pre-made whipped topping to be a standard pumpkin companion, I’ve used it here to not only save you time, trouble, and dishes, but to keep with the ironic tradition that my family has always had of using pre-packaged whipped topping along from-scratch pumpkin pie (feel free to make your own, though, and then please tell me how amazing these taste when done that way).

Sorry, Pumpkin, you’ll never be my favorite, but this recipe does come as close as it gets.

5 from 1 vote

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Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Dessert Shooters {No Bake}

Prep Time 25 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 30

Author Samantha Merritt

Ingredients

• You will need 30 disposable(or not, if you have a lot of barware handy and don't mind washing them) 2 oz shot glasses -- I always buy mine here from Amazon.

Crust

• 15 Gingersnap cookies
• 2 Tbsp butter melted

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

• 16 oz cream cheese softened, (2 8-oz packages)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar tightly packed
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 12 + 8 oz Cool Whip divided, thawed

Instructions

Crust

1. In food processor, pulse cookies until mostly crumbled. Add butter and pulse until completely blended (fine crumbs).
2. Using a small spoon, gently pack about 2 tsp of the crumbled cookie/butter mixture into the bottom of each shot glass (30 shot glasses total). Reserve any extra crumbs to sprinkle on top of finished product.
3. In KitchenAid or with an electric mixer, cream together cream cheese, pumpkin puree, and brown sugar until well-combined.
4. Add in pumpkin spice and stir well.
5. Stir in vanilla extract.
6. With mixer on low speed, slowly add in powdered sugar, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
7. With mixer on low speed, gently mix in 12 oz Cool Whip. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and complete the mixing by hand.
8. Using either a large piping bag with a 1" tip or a Ziploc bag with a 1" hole cut in a corner, pipe filling into the prepared shot glasses on top of the gingersnap crust, evenly dividing mixture among all shot glasses.
9. Pipe the remaining 8 oz Cool Whip on top of the pumpkin pie cheesecake filling, evenly dividing between shot glasses. This can be done with either a Ziploc bag with a hole cut in a corner of it or with an icing bag and a star-tip (which was used for the topping in these pictures).
10. Sprinkle remaining cookie crumbs over tops of dessert shooters before serving (be sure to keep refrigerated if not eating immediately).

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