Looking for a dessert to satisfy your craving for fall? How about one that is literally fool-proof? If you can open cans, dump them in a pan and then set a timer and remove said pan when said timer dings, then you can make this and impress friends and family at your holiday gatherings. Also, it is quite easy to make a half recipe if you have a craving, but don't want to eat it for two weeks.

This recipe has been going around for a while and with half a cup of butter it's no surprise that it is a crowd pleaser. 

Do you have a favorite or signature dish that you bring to Thanksgiving/friendsgiving/or get togethers?

Ingredients:

1 (29 oz) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

3 eggs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 (12 fl oz) can evaporated milk

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 (18.5 oz) package spice cake mix

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar and milk. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Pour into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin filling. Sprinkle pecans over the cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over all.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool.

Recipe via allrecipes.com

For dessert on Thanksgiving day, mom and I made the apple-pecan carrot cake from the November issue of Southern Living. It's a combination of my three favorite kinds of cake, so I had no doubts that I would love it. This cake exceeded all of my expectations. By grating both the apples and carrots, you don't run into the issue of taking a bite of mushy apple. It is moist, dense and flavorful. Because it has 1 1/2 cups of carrots I tried to convince my family that it is in fact considered a vegetable side dish. They didn't buy it. 

The real stars in this recipe are the apple cider caramel sauce and the mascarpone frosting. The caramel sauce calls for regular apple cider, but all we had was spiced cider and I think it gave the cake an even better flavor. You pour the sauce in between the two cake layers and let it soak in. And now let's talk about the frosting, which is somewhere in between cool whip and cream cheese frosting and is ten times better than both of them. Because the sauce is extremely sweet, the frosting's mellow flavor is the perfect complement. 

It was decided that this cake was going to become a new family tradition at the holidays. While it was fairly time-consuming, the final product is worth the hour or two spent in the kitchen. Mom made the cake the night before and let them sit to soak in all the flavors. While she was fixing the rest of the lunch, we made the caramel sauce and frosting and assembled everything right before we sat down to eat. 

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Mar of To and Fro

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I started this blog back in 2010 as a way to communicate with friends and family when an unexpected move took us over 4000 miles from home in Toronto to the land of the midnight sun, Alaska. Alaska immediately stole our hearts and gave us both opportunities we never could have imagined, but like all good things, it had to come to an end and we decided it was time for the next adventure. I am a travel addict, animal lover, photography junkie, outdoor enthusiast and my hockey-playing hubby's #1 fan and love blogging about our adventures living in Toronto and working as a professional hockey player and environmental educator/animal handler at an aquarium.

What is your favorite Christmas song?:

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas (it reminds me of elementary school, when all the students would gather in the gym to sing carols)

What you should be reading: This Isn't Goodbye | The Ultimate Road Trip | In the Blink of an Eye

Ella of Paper Umbrella

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Brief description of you/what you blog about: I am a recent college grad living in Portland, Oregon. I work in a special education classroom by day, and blog by night! I love sharing DIY projects, recipes, design and fashion inspiration, music, photos of my daily life, and anything else that inspires me. I'm the type of person who will elaborately package your sandwich in washi tape and craft paper because I think it's important to put thought into the smallest details and make life more beautiful in every way you can.

What is your favorite Christmas song?: It's so hard to choose just one!...Probably "Merry Christmas, Baby" by Otis Redding.

What you should be reading: DIY Wire Rings | Anthropologie Inspired Tassel Pillows | Thai Noodle Soup

Jess of Foreign Room

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I'm just a girl that believes in photographing every day life, drinking mass amounts of iced coffee, adventuring whenever possible, cuddling with my pup, enjoying life's small moments, hoarding mason jars, and blogging about it all.

Favorite Christmas song: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Michael Bublé. I'm just smitten by his whole Christmas album!

What you should be reading: Let's Talk About Stress | In the Quiet Moments: First Baby Shoot | Thankful Project: Something About My Guy

If you knew my culinary ability and patience, then you would know that even Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals is pushing the clock for me to get dinner on the table, or couch if we're being completely honest here. I'm not alone in this? Perfect. Then this is the perfect meal for you.

Ashley first made this meal at our Paris reunion dinner a few weeks ago, and since she made her own bbq sauce, I am fine admitting that her's was better than mine. To save time I used store bought sauce and, of course, rotisserie chicken. Because you know how much I love buying a whole chicken that is already seasoned and cooked for me. This is as simple as grabbing all of the ingredients out of the fridge, putting them on a pita and baking for ten minutes. That's it.

Ingredients: 

Pita bread

bbq sauce

chicken

red onion 

corn

spinach 

mozzarella cheese

How to: Preheat oven to 375. In the meantime, layer your ingredients on the pita. If you're using frozen corn, you don't even have to microwave it if you don't want to, it will heat up while the pizza is cooking. Bake for 10-12 minutes and enjoy.

It doesn't get much simpler than that my friends. Unless you want to live off of frozen dinners. And if you do, I won't judge you one bit. Because the Healthy Choice Asian steamer meals are better than any stir fry I can fix.

What are your favorite go-to meals when you're short on time?