It's that time of year again, pumpkin season! Two wonderful family holidays are just around the corner. Traditionally, we spend Thanksgiving or Christmas (or both) with the family to have a nice holiday dinner. There is always delicious food prepared for dinner, but what's dinner without dessert? The most traditional holiday dessert is pumpkin pie, but how about "spicing" that dessert up a little this year? Well, here's the way to do it, a delicious holiday dessert that the whole family will love and it's quick and easy!

The first step in baking, of course, is to gather all the ingredients necessary for the job. Luckily with this dessert, most of what you need, you'll already find in your kitchen. Whatever you don't have, you can just pick up at your local grocery store: 1 can pumpkin, 3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. cloves, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 box spiced cake mix, 1 1/2 cubes margarine or butter, and 3/4 cup favorite chopped nuts (if desired) and a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. You may also need a measuring cup and measuring teaspoons if you want to measure the ingredients evenly. Also, you'll need a small bowl, to beat the three eggs and melt the butter in, and a large bowl to mix the ingredients together.

Now that you have all your ingredients, you can get started on the fun, but first, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Before you mix all the ingredients, beat the three eggs together in the small bowl until they are well mixed. Now mix together the can of pumpkin, the three beaten eggs, the milk, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and sugar in the large bowl. You can use anything to mix it all with, a rubber spatula, a wooden spoon, or if you have neither of those, a large spoon will do the trick. Be sure to mix everything so that it's mixed evenly.

There's no need to grease the pan first. Just pour the mixed ingredients into the baking pan. Pour it all so that it covers the pan evenly. Don't just pour it all in one spot. If you couldn't get it even while pouring, smooth out the top of the pudding with your mixing tool.

Rinse the bowl in which you beat the eggs; or if you'd rather, just grab a new bowl. Put the butter or margarine in the bowl and place it in the microwave. Be sure to place a napkin or paper towel over the bowl so butter doesn't splatter all over the inside of the microwave. Set the time between 1-2 minutes, depending on how powerful your microwave is, to melt the butter.

While you're waiting for the butter to melt, sprinkle the spiced cake over the top of the pudding so that it covers evenly. You want the cake to cover every area of the pudding. Once you finish that step, take the butter out of the microwave and pour it over the top of the spiced cake. You must be very careful with this step; pour slowly and try your hardest to pour as evenly as you can over the whole area of the pan. Next, add your favorite nuts (if you so desire). Just about any kind of nut will do fine. I prefer it without any nuts, but if you insist, walnuts, pecans or almonds would taste swell.

Now you can place the pan, uncovered, into the oven for one hour. Once it's finished, cover the pan with tin foil and wait for dessert time! When you're ready to eat it, place a spoonful of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on it to give it some added sweetness.

My family loved this spicy pumpkin pudding so much it became our family's new traditional holiday dessert. This year, make it your family's new tradition as well.