Pumpkin Pudding Crunch

This.   Is.   Just.   So.  Good.

Buttery, crumbly, cakey deliciousness delectably obscures a velvety layer of pumpkin perfection. (That sentence alone should have been enough to sell you, I think I just used up all of the adjectives I know.) Dig down into that golden crisp, pecan studded crown of crunch and you’ll slip into a silky layer of cinnamon spiced pumpkin puree…..not quite pie, not quite pudding.

But ALL Fall.

Sort of a hybrid between a dump cake and a gooey butter cake, this crowd pleaser is my take on those two amazingly rich and yummy fall desserts.

(Okay, so what that REALLY means is that I forgot the eggs or left out the cream cheese or something goofy like that…..and ended up with this happy accident which is now one of my most favorite things!)

So you just know this is going to be easy, don’t you?  YES!

7 ingredients! I can’t even stand it. The toughest thing you’ll have to do is figure out a good way to open that can of evaporated milk….I splattered mine all over the place (as usual – good grief, what IS IT with those lids?)

but once you get that accomplished mix that together with your can of pumpkin, some cinnamon and sugar. Pour this into a well-greased 9 x 13 shallow baking dish.

Now open up that box of yellow cake mix, and gently sprinkle it over the pumpkin mixture. Just sorta let it float there.

Scatter some roughly chopped pecans over that, which you can always leave off if you’re not so much into nuts. Although, seriously? That’s just crazy talk.

Take two sticks of butter (“groan”, I know, I know……but this is not something we’re going to make every day, right?), pop ’em into a glass measuring cup (the spout is going to be helpful here) and zap this in the microwave for a quick little minute to melt. Proceed to pour that evenly over the whole she-bang. Give it a sprinkle of kosher salt for good measure.

Oh, you KNOW this is going to be good…….

BUT DON’T MIX!  No stirring!

You’ll end up with a sort of nutty butter pool. Which sounds pretty good if you ask me…….

Off this goes into your oven for ONE hour and FIVE minutes. Yes really, one hour and five minutes (I don’t know why it works out that way…it just does), and once you take it out you will have the most amazing pumpkin indulgence ever!

Serve it hot, serve it room temp, serve it chilled. Purdy it up with a scoop of ice cream or maybe even this…..

Um, yeh bay-be….you can whip up some heavy cream. No sugar even needed here, just a dash of vanilla. Give that pumpkin heaven a lovely little cloud to hang out in…..and maybe a little dusting of cinnamon, just because we are fancy that way.

Now go make someone happy.  Like yourself.

RECIPE BELOW: This is so easy, it will take you longer to wash the dishes! Plan on an hour (and five minutes) of baking time, but after it cools down just a bit, it’s up to you. This is amazing hot, cold, or at room temperature. Serves enough that you will want to be making this for that freinds-giving thing you got going. As if you need more friends……