A Thanksgiving tradition is pumpkin pie – problem is, I am not a fan. I like the pumpkin flavor reasonably well, however I find the pumpkin pie to be too dense in pure pumpkin.  I am a heavy carb kind of a girl – a real white flour and butter kind of a gal, if you catch my drift.

My mom, being the traditionalist that she is believes that you had to have pumpkin pie with Thanksgiving dinner so for years growing up I just passed on turkey day dessert.  All this changed several years ago when a dear neighbor told me about Pumpkin Crisp.  A buttery crust houses a delicious pumpkin filling and a crispy, buttery, sugary crust tops that.  The crumb crust gets crisp, yummy and melts deliciously into the decadent pumpkin filling.  I love the dish and so does everyone that tries it.

I should also add, that it is simple.  No crust to roll out and nothing fancy. I hope you try it and like it as much as my family does.

Pumpkin Crisp
Ingredients

 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
 1 egg
 1/2 cup butter, melted
 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
 2 eggs
 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 1/2 cup white sugar
 2/3 cup evaporated milk
 3/4 cup white sugar
 1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Set aside 1 cup cake mix for the topping. Combine remaining cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter or margarine. Pat into a 9×13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, 2 eggs, spices, 1/2 cup sugar, and milk. Pour pumpkin mixture over the cake mix crust.

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup cake mix and 3/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture on top of pumpkin mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 minutes.

I like to cut this into 12 servings, but you could make the squares smaller or larger depening on how “stuffed” you are after Thanksgiving dinner. 🙂