Pumpkins. I’m not going to lie, I avoided pumpkin pie for most of my childhood. It just seemed so inferior to pecan pie or blueberry or apple or blackberry or any type of pie really. The appeal of pumpkin pie for me was the spray whipped cream, which I liberally applied to my slice. So delicious that way. As you might be guessing, this recipe is not for pumpkin pie. It is for pumpkin bars. While I have come to love pumpkin pie, these pumpkin bars are a favorite! We do not usually have them on Thanksgiving day because they would compete unnecessarily with the pie, but they are worth mentioning here.

Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients:
For the bars
4 eggs
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Put first four ingredients into a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread batter into ungreased 10×15x1″ pan (jellyroll pan).
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Try not to eat the whole pan. Really, the max you could eat at once is probably four. Maybe five. Anymore than that gives me a stomach ache.

Enjoy!