Food And Friends And Fall

Here's the perfect-for-fall dessert I made for our girls night (aka "book club") this week. It turned out to be a real hit. It had been quite a while since I had made it. Or even eaten it. In our family cookbook this recipe included the note that my college friend Amy made this when she and another college buddy Talley hosted a bridal luncheon for Mommy. That was over 14 years ago.

I do love making notes on my recipes. Reading them brings back so many good memories. Of the food. Of the friends. Of the event. I remember that Amy didn't tell us what the dessert was and made us guess. I'm not sure anyone guessed pumpkin. So if you have non-pumpkin people in your life, this still might be a reasonable dessert choice. The dessert is layers of goodness--smooth lightly spiced pumpkin, cake with crunchy nuts and creamy topping.

This recipe, with some minor changes, has had a second coming online, but without the topping. The current version is topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. The girls this week voted to keep the topping I used!

PUMPKIN CRUNCH

15-oz. can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
12-oz. can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 box yellow cake mix
1 and 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 to 1-1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, and cinnamon thoroughly and pour into a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
Sprinkle dry cake mix (straight out of the box) over pumpkin mixture. Pour melted butter over cake mix. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake 1 hour at 350º. Let cool completely

Topping:
1 8-oz block cream cheese, softened
1 box powdered sugar
1 8-oz container Cool Whip

Using a hand mixer, blend cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in powdered sugar. Then mix in whipped topping. Spread over cooled pumpkin cake. Refrigerate. Cut into squares to serve. Can sprinkle lightly with cinnamon or chopped pecans to garnish. (I didn't get as far as the garnish.

Good to the last bite!

As I wrote out this recipe here, I am reminded that can sizes and packing sizes can change over the years. The recipe from the bridal shower all those years ago called for a 16-oz can of pumpkin and I know boxed cake mix is about 3 ounces less now that when this was first made. But it still works with the current sizes.

The morning after book club, I woke up and found text messages on my phone asking for the recipe. Everyone took some home to share with their husbands and they loved it, too. Some plan to make this for Thanksgiving.

It would be a great holiday dessert. It's easy to put together. And it can be made the day ahead. In fact, it's probably best to make it a day ahead. Because of a long day at church I didn't get mine made on Sunday afternoon for our Monday night dinner like I planned. If you need to make it "day of", start early. It takes quite a while for the cake part to cool. And the entire dessert needs to chill before serving.

This was so good. I'm glad I remembered the recipe. And the friend who made it. And now it's fun to think that this pumpkin dessert has connected another set of friends.