Pumpkin Bars

This is an old favorite that I had lost track of. You know what I mean? I used to make it all the time, take it to potluck dinners, get asked for the recipe. I think I actually found it on the cake mix box in the first place. I know I wrote it on a recipe card. A few years ago one of the kids got into my card box and dumped it all over the place! I knew that about half the cards had been lost then, but I didn't look too hard because by then I had switched to the Blank Book method of keeping recipes and found it to be much easier (free bonus - babies can't scatter the pages as easily as they can the cards!) so I assumed I had moved all my favorites to the book. Wrong!!

I forgot all about it until last week when the paper started publishing pumpkin recipes. Then I went on a mission! First I looked in my book, but it wasn't there. I wasn't about to despair, though. Google is my friend! I can't tell you how much I LOOOOOOOVE Google! I searched first for "Cake mix box recipes", "Pound cake box recipes" and finally just "Pumpkin bars". I'd forgotten that the official name is "Pumpkin Cheesecake bars" - I left off the word "cheesecake" because the kids detest cheesecake and it doesn't taste at all cheesecakey, anyway.

So here it is! I made it last night and it was a hit. Mary doesn't care for pumpkin, but she tasted it. Nope, still not a fan, but she so hated to hurt my feelings! Stephen ate 3 pieces, and I believe Matthew ate closer to 6! What the heck, they are small pieces.

• 1 (16 ounce) package pound cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees C (175 degrees C). Coat a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan with non-stick spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, on low speed, combine cake mix, 1 egg, margarine, and 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice until crumbly. Press onto bottom of prepared pan.
3. In another large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, then remaining two eggs, pumpkin, remaining 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, and salt; mix well. Pour over crust; sprinkle with pecans if desired.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until set.
5. Cool, then chill in refrigerator. Cut into small squares. Store covered in refrigerator.

I must say that I am still a huge fan of the blank cookbook. Some of my favorite things from Mom's house are the handwritten recipes along with her comments. Something about having your loved one's handwriting is very comforting. So I will continue with that as well as this. Here's what the cookbook looks like:

When I was searching for an image (too lazy to take my own!) I found many blog entries praising the handwritten cookbook. This entry was especially touching (plus, it's exact the same book I have!). This blog is nice and it's much easier for me to type actual journal entries than to write them, but it's not the same. For those family favorites and traditions, I absolutely recommend writing your own cookbook to leave for future generations!