The Baker's Sheet

Pumpkin Bars

Let me just start by saying I love fall, the colors of the leaves, the pumpkins, the cooler temperatures and most importantly all the fall flavors!  I am  BIG fan of pumpkin, or morse specifically these pumpkin bars.  I make them every fall, usually more the once by the request of family and they are always devoured in no time flat.  This time, it was no exception.

My boyfriend is not a fan of pumpkin, I learned this when he asked what I was doing with a can pumpkin when I had pulled it from the cabinet before I made these pumpkin bars.  I asked him to try them, as although he might not be a fan of pumpkin and absolutely despises pumpkin pie that these bars were not a pumpkin pie and warranted a try even if it was a tiny amount of them that he sampled.  He agreed and after they were baked and frosted he tried one, and he liked them!  Not only did he like them, he went back for seconds and thirds and the next day he asked me to bake more because he loved them.  This is also just as shocking, because I use a cream cheese frosting to frost them, and he has made it known on more than one occasion that he hates cream cheese especially cream cheese frosting.  But the combination of pumpkin in pumpkin bars and cream cheese in my cream cheese frosting is an ok thing that is good to eat as he now has learned.

I love this recipe for pumpkin bars, and have only made minor changes to the original.  The original recipe calls for only 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  ONE, thats it, no more than that!  I being an avid lover of cinnamon can not settle with this, I upped it to about 1 1/2 heaping teaspoons and it is much better that way.

Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups pumpkin(or 1 15 ounce can)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 1/2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together the oil and sugar; add eggs and mix well.  Mix in pumpkin.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda: add in a little at a time mixing well, then add in the ginger and cinnamon.  Spread into a greased 13×18 edged baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 teaspoons milk

Cream together the butter and cream cheese.  Sift powdered sugar and add in, beating on low until combined.  Mix in vanilla and milk until combined.  Frost pumpkin bars.