A graham cracker crust is topped with a luscious layer of pumpkin fluff for a light and tasty, easy-peasy pumpkin pie alternative.
Raise your hand if you look forward to dessert as much as the feast at Thanksgiving! We tend to have an assortment of pies at our house each year: sweet potato or pumpkin pie, pecan pie with bourbon whipped cream, apple pie and whatever else anyone brings to share. The more dessert, the better!
There is one non-pie that makes an appearance every so often and it’s a No-Bake Pumpkin Dessert that my mom got from a community cookbook she inherited from her Aunt Ede. It’s so easy and a great alternative if you don’t want to fuss with making pie crust or if you want to serve a lighter dessert or something a little different than pie. It can also be portioned into martini or wine glasses, fancy dessert dishes or my personal favorite…vintage tea cups. You can’t do that with pie now can you?
The recipe for “Pumpkin Dessert” comes from “Favorite Recipes from AAUW” which was published in the early 1970s. Community cookbooks like this are such a treasure trove of tried-and-true recipes and this one includes a collection of recipes from the members of the American Association of University Women’s branch in Silver Bay, Minn. where our beloved Aunt Ede lived and taught for many years. She was no doubt a leader and active member of this local organization and many of her own recipes are featured throughout the cookbook.
While the original recipe for Pumpkin Dessert works great, I made a few updates to fill a 9 x 13 pan. (Remember, the more dessert the better?!). I simply increased the ingredient amounts to use a full package of marshmallows, a whole can of pumpkin and a complete pint of whipping cream. There will be extra whipped cream left over but it all works out in the end as you can use it to top your dessert. Plus, can you ever have too much whipped cream?!
Even though this particular recipe is not attributed to Ede in the cookbook, I think of her every time I make it as it is representative of many of her dishes and style of cooking: simple, not too fussy and darn delicious!
