I’m cupcake obsessed right now. With two kids under the age of six, they don’t need a huge piece of cake, but on top of that, they absolutely love it when I give them a little cake of their own! When I saw this new recipe on Facebook, I had to try it even though it called for a 9″x13″ pan size. I went against every natural instinct I had and made it the way they wanted me to make it. Even with two grown men, it was a hit. One comment was, “This is what all crusts should taste like, it’s just upside down!” I had opened a large 29oz can of pumpkin puree to make it the first time so I had the second half to deal with. I decided to be daring and attempt to make Personal Pumpkin Crunch Pies! Thank you to Duncan Hines® for the original recipe, I kept close to it…

Ingredients:
1 can (15-ish oz) solid pack pumpkin
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbl pumpkin pie spice (other similar recipes call for just cinnamon or the gamut of pumpkin pie spices, I think that the one spoon does it all quite nicely)
1/2 tsp salt
1 package yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines® recipe recommends Classic Yellow, I used whatever yellowish cake mix I had)
1 cup butter, melted (you’ll never catch me using margarine and, both times I’ve made this, my hindsight tells me to use less butter next time)
1 cup chopped pecans (but I think macadamia nuts would be off the Richter scale, too)

(WARNINGS: I had leftover dry cake mix. I do not think forcing the rest into the cupcakes would be a good idea, so I am saving it for later. I will add it as a topping to brownies or other pies I make. If I had three cupcake pans, I would try to portion it out accordingly between 36 personal pies rather than 24. Also, by making this recipe into cupcake portions, it no longer qualifies as easy for me. It’s a pain in the ass- trying to evenly portion out dry cake mix and butter is ridiculous! But having a personal pumpkin pie is… oh yea, priceless)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cupcake pans with liners and spray with non-stick stuff.
2. Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large bowl. Stir until well blended.
3. Pour mixture into the cupcake tins, being aware of that 3/4 full rule you see everywhere.
4. Sprinkle dry cake mix fairly heavily into each tin. I had approximately 1/3 of the cake mix left.
5. Drizzle just a smidge of butter into each pie. The butter will run to the edges and not soak in or stick to anything but that’s okay. It all works out in the end.
6. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle nuts on top. Your pan is gonna look like a nightmare. Just keep going.
7. Cover with foil any way you can because the pans are hotter than hell. Other recipes don’t call for the double bake or the foil but the pictures are also quite a bit more brown so I’m sticking to this technique.
8. Put back into the oven for another 8 minutes.
9. Cool completely and try not to eat more than three.