The Dessert Blog

This Thanksgiving dessert is super easy. You can throw the pumpkin dessert squares together in just a few minutes. With canned pumpkin, yellow cake mix and a few other ingredients, you can create this delightfully delicious treat.

We all have our favorite recipes that we serve year after year – our tried and true favorites. This recipe for Pumpkin Dessert Squares just might become one of yours. It’s the perfect dessert for fall because it’s simple to make, serves a crowd, and comes out of the pan smoothly in neat pieces that are impressive to set before your guests at the dinner table.

PUMPKIN DESSERT SQUARES

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 egg
2/3 c. milk
2 eggs
1 large can pumpkin (for pumpkin pie)
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter

Grease bottom of a 9×13-inch pan. Set aside 1 cup of the yellow cake mix.

For the crust: Combine the remaining cake mix, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 egg. Press into pan.

For the filling: Combine canned pumpkin, 2 eggs and milk; stir until smooth. Pour over crust.

For topping: Combine reserved cake mix, sugar, cinnamon and 1/4 cup of butter. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Serve with whipped topping.

When you want to make something a bit more surprising than the traditional pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or Christmas, these dessert squares are a delicious and unexpected alternative.

Suzanne Lieurance is a freelance writer and owner of the Three Angels Gourmet Co. Visit the company blog at http://www.threeangelsgourmet.blogspot.com for daily food tips or the Three Angels website at http://www.threeangelsgourmet.com to order “heavenly gourmet mixes.”

Here is another Thanksgiving dessert made with pumpkin. This time the recipe calls for cream cheese. Imagine the wonderful taste of pumpkin mixed with the rich creaminess of cream cheese. Mmmmmm. Now, stop imagining and run to the kitchen to make this delightful Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cake.

When it comes to making a dessert for our Thanksgiving holiday meal, I enjoy baking a homemade pumpkin cake with a delicious cream cheese filling.

This cake will take some time to make, but your time will be well spent. I guarantee you that you will get a lot of compliments from your family and friends once they taste it. If you have any left-overs, you will want to store them in an airtight container inside your refrigerator.

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Cake Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
3/4 cup solid packed pumpkin puree
1/2 cup cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a deep dish cake pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt, until they are well combined; set aside. In another large bowl, cream together the granulated sugar and softened butter, until they are creamy. Add in the eggs, pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla extract, beating well after each addition. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, mixing well until all ingredients are combined.

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar

In a medium-sized bowl, whip together the softened cream cheese with the granulated sugar until smooth. Spread 2 1/2 cups of cake batter evenly over bottom of your cake pan. Spoon cream cheese filling evenly over the cake batter. Carefully spread it across the cake batter using a silicone or rubber spatula. Spoon remaining cake batter over cream cheese filling, spread evenly using a silicone spatula. Bake in your preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean. (test the center of the cake.) Cool completely before adding the topping.

Topping Ingredients:

confectioner’s sugar
frozen whipped topping, thawed

A few minutes before serving the pumpkin cake, sprinkle your desired amount of confectioner’s sugar on top. Cut cake into desired serving pieces and top with a dollop of whipped topping.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys cooking and baking for her friends and family. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe and cooking blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for additional free recipes.