From Our Ancestry Cookbook: Pumpkin Crisp

Not all Southern mothers are known for their culinary skills.

My mother, God rest her soul, lacked a basic understanding of kitchen science. If a green bean casserole called for two tablespoons of sour cream, Mom would add a cup – “I love sour cream!” – and we would stab at the floating beans on our plate, trying to capture and corral them.

My Big Mama wasn’t much of a cook, either. Her biscuits were flat and extra crispy (read: burned). She would heat up a can of roast beef with gravy and spoon it over the cracked-open pucks for an easy Sunday supper. Those same biscuits would then be split and eaten with maple syrup for dessert.

Mom and Big Mama had other talents, the latter a well-known seamstress from Holly Springs whose pleats and ruffles were exquisite. And I wouldn’t trade those food memories for anything. I loved them both deeply, but cooking wasn’t their thing, and their recipes aren’t the culinary dragons that I chase.

Still, we have many great cooks in my larger family from my maternal great-great grandfather’s line, having immigrated from Devon, England, and I count myself lucky that the family compiled and published a cookbook "Dining With The Parnells" years ago. Each chapter starts with genealogy and stories about our forebears, and collectively, it says so much about us. Reading back through it not long ago, I realized that it includes the following:

13 cornbread recipes
7 recipes for chicken spaghetti
6 recipes for taco soup and 2 for tortilla soup
6 recipes for chocolate pie

The Tex-Mex doesn’t surprise me. Most of the family is from northern Louisiana near Ruston. And the Cajun and Creole influences are there, though less so (one recipe for jambalaya; three for etouffee; and two for shrimp creole). And I have been pleased with the cousins throwing in some surprises, especially Cousin Becky, for submitting a recipe for pad thai.

There are many great publishers out there who will work with a family to produce such cookbooks, and if your family hasn’t thought to do so, you might consider it. Ours is a treasure, and it includes this great dessert, a pumpkin crisp in the same vein as a dump cake, from Cousin Cynthia Boyd Harper.

Enjoy …

Pumpkin Crisp

1 15 oz. can of pumpkin
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 box butter-flavored yellow cake mix
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup butter, melted
Ground nutmeg
Whipped cream, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the first five ingredients then pour and spread evenly into a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle the cake mix over the pumpkin mixture then sprinkle the top evenly with the pecans. Press pecans lightly into the cake mix. Drizzle the butter over the top.

Bake for 60 minutes or longer until the crust is golden brown. THE PECANS WILL START TO LOOK BURNED. Do not worry. The butter makes them turn darker, but the taste and texture should be just fine.

Allow to cool for about 20 minutes then sprinkle lightly with nutmeg and top with whipped cream.