One of the first Food Blogs I started following was The Pioneer Woman (from the suggestion of my mom, Seashell). She has a wide variety of recipes and is so entertaining to read. This Pumpkin Bar Recipe is one of my go-to Thanksgiving desserts.
Start by making the pumpkin mixture. Melt the butter, then add the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. I like to make my own pumpkin pie spice by combining, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. You can just use 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice if you prefer. Add in the boiling water and whisk until it is smooth.
Set aside the pumpkin mixture, and combine the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and baking soda. Make sure you use a big enough bowl to whisk it around well. (I made a mess using a bowl that was too small and had to transfer it to this one…)
Next, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add in the pumpkin mixture and stir until about halfway combined. Then add in egg and buttermilk mixture and stir until evenly combined.
Using a cookie sheet, spray with cooking spray, then pour in the cake batter. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
While the cake is cooking, make your icing.
Using a handheld mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese.
Gradually add in the powdered sugar.
I decided to let my cake cool over night before icing it. If the cake is still warm, the icing gets melted, and it makes it very difficult to cut into bars. When I came back to my sheet cake in the morning, a mouse with great cutting skills had gotten into it. After spreading the icing, sprinkle with a little allspice. When you are cutting the bars, be sure to wipe the knife between each cut. If you don’t the bars end up looking very messy.
I decided to have a little pumpkin tea with my pumpkin bars for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning!
Pumpkin Bars
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Servings: About 30 bars, depending on the size you cut them
Ingredients:
Cake:
- 2 sticks Salted Butter
- 2 cups Pumpkin Puree (about one can)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ginger
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¾ cups Boiling Water
- ½ cup Buttermilk
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tsp of Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Flour
- 2 cups Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
FROSTING:
- 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, Softened
- 1 stick Butter, Softened
- 1 pound Powdered Sugar, Sifted
- Dash Of Salt
- 1 Tbsp of Half-and-half Or Milk (more If Needed For Thinning)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small saucepan, melt the two sticks of butter. Then add pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, ground cloves, nutmeg, and whisk together. Add in boiling water and continue whisking until smooth. Set the pumpkin mixture aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Whisk together and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients, flour, sugar, and salt. Pour in the pumpkin mixture and stir until halfway combined. Then, pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir until combined.
- Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake the cake for 20 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
- While the cake is baking, make the frosting. Using a mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the milk or half and half it it is too thick.
- Make sure the cake it completely cool before frosting, and spread the frosting on top of the cake. Cut into squares and sprinkle tops with allspice.
- Keep leftovers in the fridge.
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