Holiday Treats

I love this time of year for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is an excuse to make lots of treats. Cookies, pies, bars, fudge, muddy buddies, cheesecake, desserts, and anything with pumpkin in it! This week our Relief Society had a holiday treat exchange. A great excuse to make some sweets! There were 2 recipes I wanted to make. I should have just chosen one, but instead I made both. Things got a little more hectic and stressful at home while baking than they should have for a simple R.S. activity, but now I get to enjoy the leftovers of 2 treats. I'll share both of the recipes with you. They're pretty easy and so very yummy.

Pumpkin Crumble

This recipe reminds me of my days at BYU working in catering. During Christmastime, we catered a lot of events and Christmas parties, and one of the common dessert choices we offered was Pumpkin Crumble. Catering could be a crazy, hectic job sometimes with long hours on your feet. I always looked forward to breaktime, sitting back and eating a plate of turkey, stuffing and gravy, and finishing it off with a heaping spoonful of Pumpkin Crumble. It was a peaceful heaven for 5 minutes. And then off to the dishroom.... I got this recipe last year at a R.S. holiday treat exchange. I don't think it's the same recipe the BYU kitchens use, but it still tastes pretty darn good.

Layer 1: Put 1 pkg white cake mix (set aside 1 cup) in a bowl. Add ½ cup melted butter and 1 egg. Mix well and press into a 9x13 pan. Do not bake.

layer 2: Mix 1 large can of pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup milk, 1 cup white sugar and 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Pour over cake batter.

Layer 3: Take reserved cup of dry cake mix and mix in ¼ cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and ¼ cup butter (cold). Cut into crumb mixture and sprinkle over pie filling.

Bake at 325° for 45 minutes. Let Cool slightly before serving.

Topping: Whip together 2 cups whipping cream and 1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding.

Mini Pecan Tarts

My mom would make these sometimes around Christmas, so I always think of these when I need to make a holiday treat. This is not her recipe (because I don't have it), but this one was taken from Laurel's Pink Family Cookbook (pg 26, for those who have the cookbook or even know what I'm talking about), with a few changes based on online recipes. To make these, you need a mini muffin pan. They're easy to find and I just got mine on sale at Target. A wonderful tool that helps form the dough cups in the pan is the mini tart shaper from Pampered Chef. My mom has this and it makes the tart forming part go much faster. It's not necessary to have though. I found that my fat toe thumbs did the job just fine.

3 oz cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 c chopped pecans

1 t vanilla

Cream 1/2 c. butter and cream cheese well. Add flour. Shape into 24 balls. Press into mini muffin tins to make cups (this is where some fat thumbs come in handy). Mix the rest of the ingredients well for the filling. Fill dough cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before removing from pan.

Eat and enjoy!