Pumpkin Bars
I love pumpkin, and I believe fall just isn’t complete until you’ve had pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, and one of those iconic coffee drinks, the pumpkin spice latté. Last fall, my colleague Tom brought a platter of his wife’s pumpkin bars to work, and I immediately fell in love. They were moist, more like cake than a traditional bar, with a layer of cream cheese icing on top. Double yum.
I asked for the recipe, and Tom’s wife kindly obliged me. But when I saw that it called for a whole cup of oil, I did a double take. And then put the recipe away in my file. There it sat for an entire year, until I found it last weekend, and remembered those bars and their pumpkin-y, cream cheese-y yumminess. Drat.
I pondered what I know of baking lighter (thanks to Cooking Light), and decided to take a chance and substitute Greek yogurt for 3/4 of the oil in the batter. It was as good as magic.
The recipe makes a large cookie sheet-sized pan, so it’s good for serving a crowd. They disappeared pretty quickly in my current six-adult household.
Pumpkin Bars
For the bars:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
2 cups evaporated cane juice or sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 large eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil
15 ounces pumpkin purée
For the icing:
8 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk, as needed for icing consistency
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with oil.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
Stir in the eggs, yogurt, oil, and pumpkin.
Spread into the cookie sheet.
Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. While the bars cool, make the icing:
In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.
Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating until thoroughly combined. If icing is too stiff, beat in a tablespoon or two of milk, until smooth and spreadable.
Spread the icing on the cooled bars, and cut into squares.
Perfect with a cup of tea or spiced cider!
Here’s the printable version.
Enjoy!
