Pumpkin Chip Cream Pie

I made this for home fellowship on Friday. The dessert part of home fellowship is always filled with mayhem, as children yell, not necessarily at their own mothers, for "some of that." The thought of slicing and serving a pie in this setting, and on very little sleep as I had worked the night before, did not appeal, so I made this in those little graham cracker tart shells that the Keebler Elves make, and just let people grab them and eat them. MUCH better. Also, this and work are the only venues that I can bring a pumpkin dessert to, since Steve doesn't like pumpkin. I am afraid, if I keep making pumpkin desserts, he will begin divorce proceedings, so this has to be the last one for a while, but it was very very good (say those who like pumpkin...).

Pumpkin Chip Cream Pie
3/4 cup cold milk
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
8 oz carton Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust
Slivered almonds and chocolate curls, optional

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft set. Stir in the chocolate chips, pumpkin, and pie spice. Fold in 2 cups Cool Whip. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set (you can do this for way less time and it's still fine). Spread with remaining Cool Whip; garnish with almonds and chocolate curls, if desired.

This was very yummy. Another mommy at the home fellowship said she thought it tasted like pumpkin chip cookie dough batter. Yum. I have never made those (and clearly I cannot this season) but I bet she is right. I had a lot of the filling left over, because I made a double batch of this, thinking that it might take more filling to fill the tart shells than a pie crust, but I was very wrong. So at our friend's Thanksgiving potluck last night, I put some of the filling in a dish and served it with graham crackers as an appetizer, and it was great like that, too. I still have like 2 cups of the filling left! Not sure what I will do with it. Since nobody here will eat it, and by the time I go back to work, it will be too long...I don't think I could freeze it...anyway another keeper!!