Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin is popular - and quite ubiquitous at this time of year, creeping into every kind of food or drink you can imagine. Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin scones, pumpkin risotto. Last night I went out to eat with friends, and there was even a pumpkin martini on the menu.  I don’t mean to offend any diehard pumpkin fans out there, but I think all of those uses of pumpkin should be banned!  No, not because I’m trying to kill the thanksgiving holiday spirit, but because I think all pumpkin should be transformed into these delicious bars.  Not sure if you’re all aware, but last year there was a shortage of canned pumpkin – its over now, but you never know when it will happen again.  And I don’t care how delicious that pumpkin martini is.  It cannot compete with these bars.  (Just ask Chris, who ate half the pan.)

Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Paula Deen, Betty Crocker, and Martha Stewart (now that’d be a dinner party!)

Ingredients:

For the bars:

4 eggs

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup applesauce (unsweetened)

15-ounce can of pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

2 t ground cinnamon

½ t ground ginger

1 t salt

For the frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened (at room temp is perfect)

2 T butter, softened

2 T maple syrup

1 t vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

A splash or two of milk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine the eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce, and pumpkin in a bowl.  Beat with an electric mixer until well-combined and no lumps of pumpkin remain.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt, then mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are combined and the batter is nice and smooth.  Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

While the bars cool, use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese, butter, maple syrup, vanilla and powdered sugar.  If your frosting is still too thick, add a tiny splash of milk (no more than 1 tablespoon at a time) to get the right consistency.  Spread over cooled bars, and enjoy!

The last bar awaits its end