Laura Barajas
I originally shared this recipe on my old food blog about a year after my grandmother’s sudden passing. My grandfather entrusted me with a box full of recipes that my grandmother had collected over the years. It contained clippings from magazines, recipes from the back of packages, and even wrappers from jars. As I sifted through the contents, I was delighted to find that it included many of her recipe cards as well.Â
I decided to photograph and post all of them so that everyone who wants to can have them. My life has been chaotic since then, with all sorts of things going on – so this project will take me a long time to complete. But I wanted to get going on this again by reposting this here.
Here is the original recipe card for these bars.
Oleo is another word for margarine. She would have used margarine originally but was back on the butter bandwagon by the end of her life. Use real butter.
It is important to mention that for the photographs of this recipe, I used fresh pumpkin. The bars in the photos appeared bright orange because I used sugar pumpkins. However, if you decide to use canned pumpkin, it will have a darker hue. The original recipe suggests using pumpkin pie filling, but if you opt for that, it’s crucial to sweeten it properly before incorporating it into the recipe.
Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares
Ingredients
Bar Layer
- 1 package yellow cake mix 1 cup of mix reserved
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 1 pound 13 ounces pumpkin pie filling
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk
Top Crumble
- 1 cup reserved yellow cake mix
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter melted
Instructions
- Ensure that 1 cup of the cake mix has been reserved for the top crumble layer. Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Mix the rest of the cake mix with the 1/2 cup melted butter and a large egg. Press this mixture evenly into the bottom of a casserole dish.
- Beat the pumpkin pie filling, 2 large eggs, and 2/3 cup of evaporated milk together. Pour over the crust.
- Combine the reserved cup of cake mix, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of melted butter. Crumble over the top of the pumpkin pie layer.
- Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes. When it’s done a knife will come out clean when inserted into the center.
