Pumpkin Creme Pie with Apple Butter

This week's pie connoisseur is Jess from Shamrocks and Seashells. She's tweaked a kraftfoods.com recipe to give us this Pumpkin Creme Pie with Apple Butter. Check out her blog and then check out her pie, I'm told it's TASTY!


Ingredients
one pie shell (I used Pillsbury, but feel free to make your own)
8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 c. milk plus 1 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
4 oz. Cool Whip (plus extra for topping if desired)
15 oz. can pumpkin
2 (3.4 oz.) packages instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 c. apple butter

Directions
1. Bake pie shell as directed. Make sure you prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork so it doesn't puff up too much.
2. Spread apple butter over baked crust.
3. Combine cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. milk, sugar, and Cool Whip. Pour mixture over apple butter.
4. Combine 1 c. milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin, and spice until mixed thoroughly. Try to remove any lumps caused by the pudding mix. Spread mixture over cream cheese layer.
5. Refrigerate for 4 hours until set. Serve with a dollop of Cool Whip on top.



Notes
1. My crust shrunk down horribly in the pie plate during baking, so the filling was higher than the crust for the most part. It's ok, it still tasted good.
2. You can make this a lower fat recipe by substituting Neufchatel for the cream cheese and using fat free Cool Whip. I did both of these things and it turned out great!
3. The pumpkin layer is definitely the dominant layer of the pie. I like it that way, but feel free to half those ingredients and add more apple butter. Or, if you don't like apple butter, leave that out, no problemo!
4. Do not let the disgustingness of the photos scare you. I loved this pie, it's just very camera shy and not photogenic.
5. I do not recommend putting candy corn on top of your pie. While it makes for a dessert that looks happy to be eaten, I discovered that over a couple of days in the fridge, the candy corn began to dissolve in the pumpkin, creating more ugliness.