Ode to Fall

Oh how I love fall. I love to see the leaves change in Arkansas. It is amazing to see the cycle of God's creation and experience it in such a beautiful way. Driving across the Arkansas river and seeing the hills is I beleive one of the prettiest views in the state. I am so lucky that I get to do it everyday. I also love the back to back holidays because it is time spent with family eating delicious, traditional foods that we have eaten for years. And then there are the desserts. One of my favorites this time of year is Paula Deen's pumpkin version of her Gooey Butter Cake. Here is the recipe.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Cake
1 18.25-ounce box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup (1stick) butter, melted

Filling
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 16-ounce box confectioners' sugar
1 15-ounce can pumpkin pie filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x 9x 2-inch baking pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, egg and butter and mix well. Pat into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside. Still using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth; add eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie filling. Dump in confectioners' sugar and beat well. Reduce speed of mixture and slowly pour in butter. Mix well. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

This is from Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons Just Desserts. I bought this in college and it is my favorite cookbook. Anytime I make ANY dessert out of it for friends, they love it. She also says she has used spice cake mix and chocolate, but that vanilla is her favorite. And she knows her desserts, so I have ALWAYS used the yellow haha. She suggests to leave the filling a little gooey, but I always cook it a little longer. I do that because I like to serve them more like a bar or brownie and it makes it easier when it is cooked longer.

Today is recipe day. I have another that I want to share that my mommy gave me 2 years ago. I am not sure where she got it, but it is absolutely DELICIOUS.

Pumpkin Pie Cake
16-ounce can pumpkin
12-ounce can Carnation Milk
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butter (1 stick), melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together pumpkin, Carnation milk, brown sugar, eggs and pumpkin pie spice. Pour into a 9x 13x 2 greased pan. Sprinkle cake mix over the top. Then sprinkle nuts on top, then melted butter. Bake for 15 minutes. Refrigerate after it cools. Top with whipped cream.

This makes a crunchy top and a delicious, gooey pumpkin cake. I absolutely love it and could eat the whole thing with a cup of coffee.

Other things I love about fall. I love when it gets dark earlier. We like to come home and eat something hot and relax and go to bed early. I love the sound, smell and feel of a hot fire in the fireplace. I love the colors and the beautiful pumpkins and gourds that serve as decorations. I love Halloween and seeing little kids enter other worlds as for one night they wear costumes and all of their neighbors hand out candy for free. Bags and bags of it if you trick-or-treat hard enough! Matt says he likes cool weather and duck hunting.

Anyhoo, Happy Fall, y'all!