General Mills challenged me and several other bloggers to come up with recipes using Pillsbury Pizza Crust and I took on the challenge.
Since this is a baking and dessert blog, I had to put my own sweet spin on a pizza crust. I came up with these Pumpkin Praline Squares, a wonderful dessert or even holiday appetizer option that came out perfect on the first try. This is honestly one of those recipes where my family literally devoured the entire pan in a couple of days and I’ve already been asked when I’m making it again. Since it is fairly quick and easy, it won’t be hard to oblige!
When creating this recipe, I wasn’t sure if I’d like the taste most warm out of the oven, at room temperature or cold. We found that it tastes great at each stage and it is really about personal preference. Immediately out of the oven is out of the question since the top layers essentially become like molten hot lava. But waiting 10 to 15 minutes for the dish to cool was fabulous. At this stage the pizza crust is amazing and extra soft. We love the non-traditional base and since the other layers are sweet, it is nice that the crust itself is not.
The dish is great at room temperature as well since the crust is still fairly soft but cold out of the fridge is really perfect for the cream cheese and pumpkin layers. And since I’ve always loved cold cream cheese and pumpkin desserts, that didn’t really come as a surprise.
Ingredients
1 can Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust
Cream Cheese Layer:
1 8 oz. brick cream cheese, softened
1/8 cup sugar
Pumpkin Layer:
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup milk
Praline Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions
Heat oven to 400°F. Spray or grease 13x9x2-inch pan. Press dough on bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan.
In small bowl, beat softened cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Spread over crust. Whisk pumpkin layer ingredients. Add as second layer over crust.
Cut in sugar, butter and flour ingredients with a fork or pastry blender in a small bowl until mixture is crumbly.
Stir in pecans and sprinkle over pumpkin layer.
Bake 22-26 minutes or until crust is deep golden brown.
Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before serving or cool completely and store in refrigerator.
Sibylle says
January 7, 2013 at 3:18 amLooks very yummy! Pumpkin is always a great ingredient!!
Ellen Thrifty & Chic Mom says
January 10, 2013 at 9:24 ammy husband would go nuts if I had these waiting when he walked in the door mmmmm