I don’t know about you, but in terms of the menu for Thanksgiving, we rarely deviate from year to year. There’s the usual cast of characters: oven roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans of some sort, rolls, cranberry salad, and pumpkin pie or some other kind of dessert. This year the only difference was instead of pumpkin pie, I made this pumpkin crunch cake. Way back in the day, when I was the age of my girls now or younger, my mom would volunteer to make this for the senior luncheons at church. I wonder now, if that is when this recipe first originated. I remember liking it then, but like so many dishes, they cycle through, or are replaced by something else and get lost in the pages of the recipe books. But this year, as I was grocery shopping and putting things in my cart to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner, this recipe popped into mind and like it often does when this happens, I began to reminisce about the taste. I’m pleased to report the memory did justice to the finished dessert.

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix (do not mix according to box)
• 1 can 15oz. pumpkin puree
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup melted butter
• whipped cream

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using non-stick spray, spray the bottom and sides of a 9×13 pan; set aside. In a medium size bowl, combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt and pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the dry yellow cake mix over the pumpkin batter. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the cake and drizzle the butter evenly over the dry cake mix and nuts.

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes or until the top of the cake is a golden brown. Cool completely before serving. Serve with fresh made whipped cream. Refrigerate leftover cake.