Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Crisp

Hello All!

Sorry I was gone so long. Life just catches up with you sometimes and you need a little break, so I took one. I was still cooking and baking, just nothing that I hadn't blogged before or anything that would really wow you all. I'm sure my chicken on the grill would have sent you all into a tailspin, lol.

I've been  chilling out and enjoying life. We've been having friends over for dinner, spending time by the fire pit and doing a lot of grilling too. My hubby made my mother-in-laws famous baby back ribs for Labor Day. They are fall off the bone fantastic. I'm thinking I should blog those one of these days.

So my oldest is now a college student and my husband is taking a class at the same college. Tuesday and Wednesday nights I'll be without one of my men around the dinner table. It's going to be strange. I don't know where all the years have gone. It seems like just yesterday I was getting him ready for pre-school and now he's in college. Slow down life.

I'm thrilled beyond belief that September is here! I feel like my cooking comes alive in the fall. I'm all about soups and stews and casserole and hearty breakfasts. I've been hoarding some great recipes and I can't wait to share them.

Here's my first one. Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Crisp. This is a variation on a pumpkin dump cake. The original recipe called for pecans and you can certainly use them if you love pecans, but my gang isn't fond of them so I chose to use chocolate chips instead. I love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate. It worked perfectly in this recipe.

The bottom layer is the consistency of pumpkin pie and the top layer is crunchy and chocolaty. It's not cake-like, it truly is crisp-like. So don't keep baking thinking that the bottom layer will firm up. It's supposed to be mushy (and delicious!).




Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Crisp
adapted from a recipe at Rachel Schultz
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 package butter yellow cake mix (I used butter)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Grease a 9x13 dish. Pour the mixture in and then sprinkle the cake mix over pumpkin mixture in an even layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cake mix and then pour the melted butter evenly over the top, moistening the cake mix.

Bake for 70 to 8- minutes or until golden brown. Mine only took 70 minutes.You can serve this with freshly whipped cream, but we ate it as is. Delicious!