With a name like that, it has to be good, right? Wrong. It has to be great. And I pinky swear to you right now, that this is so good, that your family will love you even more than they do now…so  this is something you must make. Stat. This is sure to be a crowd pleaser for any of your Fall-y get-togethers! I wish I could take credit for this idea. I actually tasted a similar version at a friends house very recently, and I only tasted it then because I was hard up for something sweet.  In fact, up until this year I refused to eat anything “pumpkin” flavored. I know, I know, sacrilege, right? I’m sure my whole family has written me off as slightly insane, but I’m hoping this will restore some sort of semblance of faith that they may have in me. 

Anyway, back to how I found this combo. A few weeks ago, my Mountain Man had taken a little vacation time with a friend out to Montana, to do some fishing. Rough life, I know. So while he was gone, I had a very sweet friend invite myself and the three munchkins over for dinner. Of course we accepted! Free food?! I kid, I kid…But seriously, I love this friend dearly…we’ve known each other for going on 13 years, and were close before kids ever came into the picture. So we accepted and had some much needed time to catch up on our lives. After some yummy dinner, she broke out a box of ginger snaps and a bowl of this creamy pumpkin dip she made. I took one bite (hesitantly…remember, not a big pumpkin fan over here)…and I was hooked. I was like a freaking machine, the way I put away some ginger snaps and that a-mazing dip! 

I just knew this dip was anything but healthy, so I asked her what was in it.  As she began telling me the ingredients, I did what any normal person would do, and started thinking about healthier ingredients I could sub out for some of the original ones. Just me? Ok, moving on. It was at that moment I decided that I was on a mission to re-create this sweet treat, but in a way that fit into our family’s dietary needs. Lucky for you, you only have to come to ONE blog post to get both of these delicious recipes, instead of scouring the interwebs for days on end trying to find the perfect recipes. There are multiple parts to this, so let’s start with the Pumpkin Crack first, since you’ll want that to chill in the fridge while the cookies are baking. 

*Note- this recipe calls for 2 processed items, of which I did not use: vanilla pudding mix (I made my own in less than 5 minutes), and Cool Whip (again, I whipped up my own…literally). You can choose to make your own, or used the ready to go stuff. Your call! I’ve added the easy homemade version of those two items below this recipe card. 

In a food processor combine the following items:

1 cup arrowroot powder

1 cup organic pure cane sugar

3/4 cup dry milk

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Store in an airtight container. This makes 5 large boxes of vanilla instant pudding. Use 1/2 cup of the mix in place of a large (5oz) box of instant pudding in recipes, or 1/4 cup of mix in place of a small box (3-4oz) of instant pudding mix. 

To make the Homemade Cool Whip: The Rising Spoon has a great tutorial! 

Ok, on to the COOKIES!! I like Ginger Snaps, but I like them…less “snappy” than others. But never fear. I am well aware that most prefer their Ginger Snaps to be crispy, so these cookies have just the right amount of crisp and chewy that everyone will enjoy! I found this recipe on White Lights on Wednesdays blog, and was thrilled that I didn’t have to make too many changes.  But you know me…I just can’t leave well enough alone. If I’m going to do something and spend my time doing it, I want to do it right. So here goes…