Can't Have Thanksgiving Without ... Pumpkin!!

Well, another year's rolled around again and it's Thanksgiving time! Luckily I didn't have to learn how to make my own turkey (I'm sure I'll have to learn eventually, but for now I think I'll stick to meats I can cook on the George Foreman :P) because my parents invited me over to the house for dinner. I didn't want to show up empty handed and I had this can of pumpkin filling that I'd been wondering what to do with for the longest time... so I set to work on storming up a recipe for a pumpkin bar that would be easy and delicious.

Pumpkin Pie Cake-bars
Yields 1 13x9 inch rectangular pan

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer
1 package Betty Crocker's Butter Pecan cake mix (or another white-cake based mix)
1 egg
1/2cup butter, softened

Filling
3 cups pumpkin pie filling (1lb, 4oz)
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs

Topping
1 cup reserved batter of the bottom layer
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp each nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
¼ cup butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 13x9 inch cake pan.

2. Mix together the ingredients for the bottom layer. (This batter will be fairly chunky and thick). Reserve 1 cup and set it aside for later use.

3. Press the remaining mixture into the pan.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the filling ingredients and pour it over the bottom layer.

5. Combine the topping ingredients with the 1 cup of reserved batter and crumble it over the top.

6. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool and cut into squares and eat the day of baking.

These bars were very tender and you had to be careful not to break them when lifting them after cutting. Luckily I lined the cake pan with parchment paper, otherwise there would be no way I could have removed the cake bars without destroying a good portion of them. I included "eat the day of baking" to the last step because although the bars were wonderfully tender on the bottom, with a crisp streusel topping just after baking... the next day (after I had packaged them all) I realized that the topping had also become soft :( but luckily my parents and sisters didn't cake. They were just happy to eat some festive pumpkin dessert bars, and when eaten warm and topped with ice-cream... they were divine!