Pumpkin Crumb Cake

I had Bunco here last night, so I didn't have to make anything which was so nice. It was a wine theme, so the food people brought was really good...baked brie, spinach artichoke dip, chocolate pie, hummus. Yummy!! I didn't eat all day in anticipation of it.

Now tonight we're going to my grandma's. My mom called Thursday night, I think it was, saying that one of her cousins was in town for a convention and wondered about getting together for dinner last night or tonight. So we're going over there tonight. It should be fun; I met this cousin at a family reunion we went to back in June. She's more my age than my mom's, I'd say 5-7 years older than me, and she and her husband have a son that's less than a year older than Will. Actually his name is William, too. I was told not to bring anything for dinner, but I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry and felt like making this cake. It's my friend Benah's recipe, and it's so yummy. I'm normally not a pumpkin fan, but this cake is really good!

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Crust:
1 pkg (18 oz) yellow cake mix (take out one cup for topping)
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted

Filling:
1 lb can pumpkin
3 eggs
½ c granulated sugar
¼ c brown sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)

Topping
1 cup cake mix
½ c granulated sugar
½ c chopped nuts (optional)
3 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix crust ingredients; pat into greased 9x13 pan
Beat filling ingredients; pour over crust
Combine topping and crumble over filling (use pastry blender)
Bake for 45-55 min.

*****

I sprayed some non-stick spray on my hands to get the crust spread out in the pan, per Benah's suggestion. If you don't have a pastry blender, you can use two knives to cut the ingredients together, but a pastry blender is a lot easier! I hate the two knife method--it was my main motivation to get a pastry blender!