Pumpkin Dessert

Thanksgiving is a special time for cakers. We gather round our kitchen tables, join hands and give God thanks for the many blessings in our lives, including Kraft Thousand Island dressing, Bee Hive corn syrup and Duncan Hines cake mix.

Unlike most people, cakers don’t stop at making only cake with cake mix. We’re far too resourceful for that. We use it as a dessert topping, as a secret ingredient in cookies and some of us even use it as an effective scouring powder for cleaning bathroom grout.

This Pumpkin Dessert – which dates back further in caker history than our love of Hee Haw – offers the best of both worlds by using cake mix for the topping and the crust. Serve it with a side of Cool Whip and you’ll be in pilgrim heaven. If the pilgrims had cake mix. Which they didn’t. Because it hadn’t been invented. But they would’ve. If they'd had've had it.

Ow. That last one hurt my brain real bad.

1 package yellow cake mix

½ cup butter, melted

3 eggs

1 can (30-ounce) pumpkin pie mix

1 can evaporated milk

½ cup sugar

¼ cup all purpose flour

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, butter and one egg until crumbly. Set aside 2/3 cup for topping. Press the remaining crumb mixture into a greased 9” x 13” baking pan. In a mixing bowl, beat the remaining eggs. Add pie mix and milk and pour over crust. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and reserved crumb mixture, sprinkle over the pumpkin layer. Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until chilled before cutting.

Source: Royal Canadian Legion Branch 99