Best Ever Layered Lush Dessert
This dessert. Oh boy. It has everything going for it. Lush desserts (aka delight desserts) are usually made with a shortbread crust or something similar and topped with fluffy goodness in the form of pudding and whipped topping and often with some sort of fruit. My mom makes a lemon lush that’s to die for, but I digress. No lemon here. Pumpkin instead. That’s my idea of a great trade. It’s an almost no-bake (the crust bakes for just 10 minutes) layered dessert that begins with a slightly crunchy graham cracker crust, a sweet yet tangy layer of cream cheese, a layer of vanilla pudding that’s spiked with pumpkin, topped with whipped topping, and sprinkled with crunchy toffee bits and chocolate chips. I love the toffee bits and chocolate chips on top for a texture wake up call. They’re a great contrast to the soft fluffiness below.
Pumpkin Lush Ingredients
To make this quick and easy recipe for pumpkin lush, you’ll need:
Unsalted butter Graham cracker crumbs Cream cheese Confectioners’ sugar Instant vanilla pudding mix Milk Pumpkin puree Pumpkin pie spice Whipped topping (such as Cool Whip) Toffee bits Mini chocolate chips
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Lush
This almost no-bake layered pumpkin dessert is a cinch to make! Here’s an overview of the recipe:
Recipe Variations
This recipe for pumpkin lush couldn’t be simpler, but there are still some ways to customize the dessert.
Use pumpkin spice pudding mix instead of vanilla pudding mix. There’s plenty of pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice for a perfect fall dessert. I used vanilla pudding because I couldn’t find pumpkin pudding. If you can find pumpkin pudding and want to boost the intensity of pumpkin flavor, go for it. Just made sure to use INSTANT pumpkin spice pudding mix. Swap out the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips, or just use extra toffee bits. Use another sweet cracker or cookie rather than graham crackers. Use lite cream cheese rather than full-fat. Just make sure to buy the kind of cream cheese that’s sold in a brick, not the spreadable variety that comes in a tub.
Recipe Video Tutorial
More Pumpkin Dessert Recipes:
My FAVORITE PUMPKIN RECIPES on my blog! In the freezer: You should be fine to assemble and freeze the entire pumpkin lush dessert. Thaw overnight in the fridge when ready to eat. Just note that the graham cracker base might soften once frozen. Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — These super soft and moist pumpkin bars are the perfect EASY fall dessert!! Tangy cream cheese frosting is a wonderful complement to these perfectly pumpkin-spiced bars!! Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread — Pumpkin bread that’s like having cheesecake baked in! Soft, fluffy, easy and tastes ahhhh-mazing! Pumpkin Caramel Poke Cake — Easy and the BEST pumpkin cake ever! Two kinds of caramel sauce, toffee bits, chocolate chips, whipped topping and more! The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread – Super soft, moist, rich pumpkin flavor, and loaded with chocolate chips! Easy, no mixer recipe that’s the BEST! Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – No cakey cookies here! Soft, chewy, thick, loaded with chocolate and bold pumpkin flavor! Your new favorite pumpkin cookies! Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars — Super soft and are like biting into a piece of rich pumpkin fudge! Loaded with chocolate and crazy good! Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — 🍁🧡😋 Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting making this a family FAVORITE recipe! This EASY fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more! Originally published September 30, 2016 and republished September 27, 2024 with updated text and video.
