10 Ingenious Ideas For Leftover Pumpkin Pie Filling
The winter holidays have passed, and now you're wondering what to do with all those leftovers. And not just the things you cooked and baked, but also all those supplies you stocked up on. Maybe you made a bunch of pumpkin-flavored items, and now you have leftover cans of puree. Or you made a pie, but only that big, 30-ounce can of ready-made filling was available. Now you have part of a can gathering dust in the fridge. Not to worry: We have lots of ideas about how to use up your pumpkin pie mix.
Since you can purchase both in cans from the store, you first need to know the difference between pumpkin puree and canned pumpkin pie filling. As Real Simple explains, pumpkin puree is simply a can of pureed pumpkin and similar types of squash. It can go in just about anything, including savory dishes.
Pumpkin pie filling, on the other hand, is pre-seasoned and pre-sweetened. This can of pumpkin also includes cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sugar. You'll just need eggs and evaporated milk to turn it into a pie. This version of pumpkin pie filling is quite sweet, so it works great in baked goods. While you can make some adjustments to pumpkin puree so it will work in sweet dishes, you cannot use pumpkin pie filling in your savory pumpkin recipes. Certain recipes on this list use pie filling and others use pure pumpkin, so we've got you covered no matter which one you have.
1. Pumpkin cream cheese sheet cake
Sheet cakes are a super simple solution to using your leftover pumpkin pie filling. And what's better than cream cheese frosting? A sheet cake is a perfect addition to your office party because you get so many servings out of them, and they're easier to cut and distribute evenly than a traditional cake. This one from Mashed gets even more fall flavor with the addition of no-sugar-added applesauce. And don't let the fact that your pumpkin pie filling comes pre-seasoned stop you from adding more delightful spices. This recipe calls for more cinnamon, cloves, and pumpkin pie spice, which all help to give this cake an unmatched depth of flavor.
Make sure you grease and flour the sheet pan before baking so your cake doesn't stick. This is especially important if you use your pans for varied purposes, like roasting vegetables or cooking sheet pan meals. But even if you only use them occasionally and for baking, this is a crucial step. Nothing is worse than cooking up a beautiful cake and not being able to get it out of the pan.
You can mix up your cream cheese frosting while your cake is baking. Start with butter and cream cheese, then add vanilla and powdered sugar. Let the cake cool before frosting, decorate as desired, and wait for your houseguests or colleagues to be wowed.
2. Salted caramel pumpkin pie crescents
Our recipe for salted caramel pumpkin pie crescents calls for you to sweeten your own pumpkin puree, but you could easily use pumpkin pie filling instead and omit the extra sugar and spices. The best thing about this recipe? You make it with canned crescents, so you don't have to worry about whipping up pastry dough.
Start with pumpkin and sweeten things with storebought caramel topping. Separate your crescents into triangles and spread a tablespoon of the filling on each one. Roll the dough into crescents, securing the filling in the center, then line them up on a cookie sheet. Next, mix two teaspoons of sugar with 1/8 of a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Sprinkle this over your crescents for a sweet and festive flavor.
Pop them in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Drizzle each with some more caramel sauce, and sprinkle with sea salt before serving. You'll want to use coarse or flaked sea salt for the topping on these. Not only will it look great, but it will create that sweet and savory taste that's become so popular in recent years.
3. Pumpkin tiramisu
Looking for another delightful dessert? This pumpkin tiramisu from Tasting Table could really hit the spot. And what's even better is that this is a no-bake recipe. After spending all day laboring over a hot oven for the holidays, the last thing you want to do is spend more time doing that afterward. You may need to go to the store for the ladyfingers required for this recipe, but other than that, this is a super easy dessert.
Once you've retrieved your ladyfingers, soak them in two cups of chilled espresso and ¼ cup of sugar. If you don't have an espresso maker, you can use any finely-ground strong coffee in your regular coffee maker, French press, or whatever coffee-making vehicle you use. Chill your espresso, soak your ladyfingers, and line a baking dish with them. Next, blend pumpkin puree, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. This is another recipe that uses pumpkin puree and adds sweetener and spices, but you could use pie filling and just not add sugar to it.
Top your espresso-soaked ladyfingers with pumpkin cream. Then add another layer of espresso ladyfingers and pumpkin cream and sprinkle the top with cinnamon. Refrigerate long enough to let all the flavors meld. Your ladyfingers have already soaked up the coffee flavor but need the pumpkin flavor too. Two hours should do it. Then slice and serve. After trying this amazing dessert, the pumpkin spice latte may no longer be your favorite pumpkin-coffee combo.
4. Pumpkin cheesecake
Our recipe for pumpkin cheesecake also starts with pumpkin puree and sweetens and spices things up to get to the finished product. It calls for a 14-ounce can of pumpkin puree, but it's perfect if you have a 30-ounce can you only used half of for Thanksgiving. This will also use your leftover heavy cream, pecans, and graham crackers.
You might not have enough cream cheese on hand, though. The recipe calls for three 8-ounce packages, but if you had family and friends around for the holidays and bought extra cream cheese for breakfasts and baking, you may pull this off without making a trip to the store. If your pecans are already ground, you have a jump on the first step in this recipe. If not, throw them into a food processor along with your graham crackers and grind them coarsely. Toss in a bowl with melted unsalted butter and press into the bottom of your springform pan to make a crumb crust.
Next, mix cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and eggs. Fold in your pumpkin puree and heavy cream, and then pour it into the crust. Bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes until the filling is mostly set. Chill for 30 minutes before removing the outer cuff from your springform pan. Then it goes in the fridge to cool completely before slicing and serving.
5. Pumpkin pie bars
This tasty treat from Mashed calls explicitly for the presweetened pie filling. This is perfect if you have some left over from the holidays because it's a bit tougher to repurpose than your pumpkin puree. The recipe also uses a boxed cake mix, cutting down dramatically on the time needed to complete it, which also means you only need minimal baking skills to pull off this recipe.
These bars have a streusel-style topping that is made with the same packaged mix you use for the bars themselves. Make sure to set aside a cup of your cake mix before starting the rest of this project. Mix the remainder with eggs and butter and pour it into a baking dish. Spread your leftover pumpkin pie filling over your cake batter. Mix the cup of cake mix you saved with a teaspoon of cinnamon. Pour melted butter over the top of this mixture and blend with a fork to create a sort of cinnamon crumble. Drop spoonfuls of your crumble dough on top of the cake and pumpkin filling.
Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Cool and serve with leftover Cool Whip from your Thanksgiving feast. Or, if you have some heavy cream and sugar left from the holidays, whip up some homemade whipped cream. It will be the perfect complement, elevating the sweetness in your pumpkin bars and providing creamy contrast.
6. Pumpkin cake donuts
Our pumpkin cake doughnuts are deep-fried for all the deliciousness you could want. They start with pumpkin puree, are topped with a pumpkin glaze, and then drizzled with white chocolate. If you make these for guests staying with you over the holidays, everyone back home is likelier to hear about them than what was on the table for dinner. Or they may just not go home.
Begin by mixing all your wet ingredients. These include pumpkin puree, eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Add in some sugar and whisk together. Next, add your dry ingredients, and get ready for fun. The best way to mix your wet and dry ingredients is with your hands, which is a great way to get the kids involved. Or it could be a lot of fun for the adults.
Once your ingredients are mixed, roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment. Use a cookie cutter or glass to cut rounds from your dough. Use a smaller glass or cutter to remove the center, but don't throw it away. You're going to use these for donut holes. Fry your doughnuts and set them on paper towels to drain and cool. While they do, mix up a glaze made of pumpkin puree, confectioner's sugar, and water. Twist your cooled donuts into the glaze, then pipe with white chocolate drizzle. If the glaze is too much work or too sweet for your tastes, you can use powdered or cinnamon sugar instead.
7. Pumpkin pie pancakes
Another excellent option if you prefer breakfast to dessert is to use your leftover pumpkin for pancakes. You'll start this recipe from Mashed with pumpkin puree and add spices and sugar. The canned, premade pumpkin pie filling might be a little sweet for this recipe, but if you like your pancakes on the sweeter side, you're certainly welcome to try swapping it in. But remember not to add sugar and spices to your pumpkin if you go this route.
Either way, you will start by melting 1/8 cup of butter. While it's cooling, mix your flour, sugar, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. If you're using pumpkin pie filling, you may not need the pumpkin pie spice because some of those seasonings are already in there. It really just depends on how much spice flavor you want in your pancakes.
Next, mix that cooled melted butter with your pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie filling, milk, and eggs. Then stir your wet ingredients into your dry ones until a batter forms. Grease your griddle and pour on the pancake batter. Cook each pancake for about two minutes per side. When they start to bubble, they are ready to flip. Once your pancakes are cooked, remove them from the griddle, add some pats of butter, and drizzle maple syrup over the top.
8. Pumpkin streusel muffins
We're not done with the breakfast recipes yet. And that's good news because when you have guests staying with you, nothing is better than using your leftovers to make breakfast for family and friends in town. This recipe from Tasting Table is adaptable. Drizzle the cream cheese glaze on top as recommended or skip it if you don't like sweet muffins. These muffins call for pumpkin puree and use a couple of different sweeteners, so they are probably not one that you want to swap out with pumpkin pie filling. You'll use sugar and maple syrup in this recipe, but you'll want to mix those ingredients separately.
Start with your dry ingredients, mixing sugar, flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and cinnamon. Next, mix pumpkin puree, eggs, maple syrup, oil, milk, and vanilla extract in a separate dish. Mix them until just combined and pour the batter into a muffin pan filled with cupcake liners. Fill about ¾ full. Next, make your streusel topping: Mix butter, flour, sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Sprinkle over the muffin batter and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on them and take them out when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
While your muffins are baking, mix up the cream cheese glaze if you plan to use it. It's made of cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Once your muffins are cooked and cooled, drizzle with glaze and serve.
9. Festive fall French toast
We have one last breakfast recipe for you because everyone knows that different people like different breakfast foods. And let's face it, you've got to keep everyone happy until they head home from the holidays. This French toast from Tasting Table will give you an additional option to knock people's socks off.
Use any bread you want in this recipe. Cinnamon raisin bread makes a good option. Nut bread does, too, along with simple cinnamon bread. The rest of your ingredients are equally easy to come by. The recipe calls for eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla, and butter. And, of course, your pumpkin puree, though you could pretty easily swap out pumpkin pie filing here. You'd just need to adjust the amount of sugar that goes into the mix.
To make this dish, you just need to add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to your traditional French toast batter. Let each slice soak for at least 30 seconds to absorb all the tasty goodness. The original recipe makes three slices of French toast and is a perfect solution for singles. But you could easily multiply it to feed a family. With just 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree, you could make 8 slices of French toast. If you have a 15-ounce can and friends and family are still in town, you could make 22 slices of this French toast.
10. Marshmallow pumpkin cake
We'll wrap this list up with a dessert because that only seems fitting. And this one calls for canned pumpkin pie filling. It's also one of the easiest desserts you can make, courtesy of boxed and canned ingredients. Besides canned pumpkin pie filling, this recipe from Mashed uses a boxed cake mix and marshmallow fluff. There are so many ways you could use this recipe. The kids could make it to contribute to the family festivities. Or it could be a simple recipe to whip up for your office party, a bake sale at the school, or your children's holiday events.
The recipe is so simple. Mix your pumpkin pie and your cake mix using a whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer — whatever you have that makes it most effortless. Pour your mixture into a greased round cake pan and put it in a 350-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Allow it to cool completely before frosting. Whip a tablespoon of warm water into a cup of fluff with a whisk to get your marshmallow fluff to a spreadable consistency. You can either frost the top and let the icing drip down the sides for an artistic appeal or cover the entire cake with the marshmallow icing. One cup of fluff should be enough to coat the whole cake; if not, you can whip up some more of this frosting in no time.