Big City, Little Kitchen

I don’t like pumpkin pie. I eat it because, on Thanksgiving, it seems like the right thing to do–tradition and all. However, I recently came across a recipe that makes me want to give up pumpkin pie for good, and pass on this gem to everyone who bakes a dessert for Thanksgiving. It provides the same homey, cinnamon-laced taste of that custardy pumpkin filling, but lacks the thick, packed-down quality of the typical pie.

It’s very simple, really: can of pumpkin, box of confectioner’s sugar, stick of butter, block of cream cheese. Whirl together, pour over a cake mix “crust,” and bake. Not complex, sophisticated, or restrained in anyway, but it is DELICIOUS. Besides, is Thanksgiving really the time to be conservative? Not that I would ever limit myself to making this only once a year. My favorite part about the finished product is the way the butter-soaked cake mix that forms the base has melded with the pumpkin filling, yielding a rich, buttery middle layer. It comes courtesy of Paula Deen, whose excessive, butter-loving practices I am usually loathe to promote–but this recipe is too good.

Crust

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 8 tb (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling

• 8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened
• 15 ounces (1 can) pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 tb (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 box (about 4 cups) confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13″x9″ pan.

To make crust:

Combine cake mix, egg, and melted butter in the bowl of an electric mixer; mix until well combined and small pellets form. Press mixture into prepared pan.

To make filling:

Cream butter and cream cheese (these must both be at room temperature), then mix in pumpkin. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well-combined. Add sugar and spices, and mix again. When filling mixture is smooth, pour into pan, on top of cake-mix crust. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until edges are brown and center is set. Let cool at least 30 minutes; cut into squares and serve. Creme fraiche is a good way to offset the sweetness, but a vanilla-tinged whipped cream would serve it in good stead as well.