It’s time to show you how to make the most delicious pumpkin recipe you may ever make. Enter Pumpkin Crunch Cake Bites.

The holidays are right around the corner so I have created the most delish dessert recipe to serve at your holiday parties and family gatherings. We all know THAT family member or friend who is the “hostess with the mostess.” She can whip up black truffle rice balls, bacon wrapped dates and avocado tempura with ease and everyone wants to be on her invite list.

To give you a head start on becoming the hostess that you always knew you could be, I am sharing one of my holiday dessert recipes with you that is sure to gather a crowd. These crunchy, moist, cake ball bites are truly amazing and will make your party the talk of the holiday season! Let’s get to baking!

Before we begin, I just want to say that these don’t taste like pumpkin pie but rather they are pumpkin cake! They are closer to a cake pop than a slice of pie and I like these MUCH better than I do pumpkin pie!

PUMPKIN CRUNCH CAKE BITES INGREDIENTS

CRUNCH TOPPING

1 cup walnuts
1 cup vanilla wafers (measure the cookies before chopping them!)
1 cups brown sugar
4 oz butter

PUMPKIN CRUNCH CAKE

2/3 cup sugar
3 oz softened butter
1 cup solid pumpkin (from the can)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 oz cream cheese
3 oz softened butter
3/4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Crunch Topping

1. Melt Butter. In a food processor, pulse cookies to a fine crumb. Remove from processor and put into a medium bowl. Then pulse walnuts to very small pieces. Add walnuts to the bowl with the cookie crumbs.

2. Add in Brown Sugar and mix well. Add in melted butter and mix until completely blended.

3. Grease a 8 1/2 x 11 baking pan and press crunch topping into bottom and spread it evenly. Set pan aside and begin cake.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Cake

1. In your mixer beat sugar and butter for about 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy, scrapping down the bowl frequently. Add in pumpkin and all the rest of the ingredients, except the eggs. Mix just until blended. Do not over blend. Add in the eggs, one at a time just until blended.

2. Pour cake batter into a greased 8 1/2 x 11 baking pan.

3. Put cake AND crunch topping pans in the oven and bake at 350 degree. REMOVE crunch topping after 8 minutes!! Make sure you don’t burn it!! Leave cake in oven to cook for additional 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cake will cook for a total of 16-18 minutes. Allow cake and crunch topping to cool completely in pans!

While your cakes are baking prepare Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Whip the cream cheese and butter till very smooth and creamy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar while mixer is on low setting. Add in vanilla and mix well. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Once cake is COMPLETELY cooled, crumble it up. No need for a food processor or anything like that – just mash it up with your hands.

2. Take your pan of crunch topping and break it up into very small bits with your hands. Scoop 1 cup of crunch topping crumbs into the crumbled cake pieces. Add all the cream cheese frosting that you made to the cake crumbs and mix with your hands. Yes, your hands. It just works best to clean your hands really well and get in there. Here is how it will look when it is all combined.

3. Set the rest of the crumbled topping aside for later use.

4. Next you want to make the actual cake balls. I found it easiest to use a small cookie scoop so that I could guarantee that all the cake pops were the same size. After you scoop the cake, roll them in your hand until they are complete round balls and set them on a tray.

5. Put cake balls in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

6. Carefully melt your vanilla candy melt in the microwave according to the package.

7. Remove the cake balls from the freezer. Dip into the candy melt until complete covered. Remove cake balls from candy melt with a fork.

You can do the next step in two different ways:

a) Holding the chocolate covered cake ball over the crunch topping, sprinkle the pumpkin bite with the crunch and then gently roll it off the fork onto a tray. Sprinkle with additional crunch.