A day or so ago, I whipped up a batch of my Pumpkin Bars and they disappeared so quickly, I'm gonna chalk them off as a success.
'Tis the season for making them so here's my recipe.
PUMPKIN BARS
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup honey (you can use sugar but the bars will be moister with the honey)
1 egg
1 cup pureed pumpkin (or squash!)
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans get my vote)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dates
1-1/2 cup unbleached white flour (whole wheat works well also)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Cream butter and honey. Add and beat in until smooth the egg and pumpkin (squash!).
Blend in the nuts, raisins and dates.
On top of above mixture in bowl dump flour, baking soda, and spices. Mix thoroughly and spread in a 9" x 12" or 9" x 13" greased pan.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Above is the pan just out of the oven. Cool before frosting with your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting.
I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of the frosted bars before they were attacked. (I could have gotten hurt in the process.)
These are just soooo good! Heavy, moist, rich and spicy. And using the squash in place of the pumpkin came out juuust fine.
Perfect! I had only one - 1C bag of pumpkin and was wondering what I would end up doing with it!
ReplyDeleteOk, next time I make bars, yours are up!!! Love the idea of the fruits in there too!
I may do this with pumpkin, I have oodles of those large cans left over from last year's stash. Sadly, I can't seem to grow pumpkins and never got out to buy sugar or pie pumpkins to process this year.
ReplyDeleteBack in the "old days" what was grown in this country would fall more in the squash category. Pumpkins are a more recent hybrid squash that was popularized by carving for Halloween. So Great-Grandma's pie really was squash. Mama Pea, your just bringing what was old, new again.
ReplyDeleteI laughed so hard when I saw the photo with the HUGE piece missing. Hubby??? If so, he has a twin in Michigan. When I make my brownies (in a 9" square pan), I put it on the counter and Don says "So , where is yours?". Meaning ONE brownie. Good thing common sense prevails and we get TWO brownies out of that whole pan!!!
ReplyDelete:D
I believe this is why our love keeps "growing"!!!
APG - I have trouble enjoying cakes (texture is just too dry) so I think that's why I like all that "stuff" in the Pumpkin Bar batter!
ReplyDeleteErin - I wonder why you can't grow pumpkins?? You sure have hot enough weather which is the usual cause for crop failure.
Jane - Hey! That's me! I'm old but (I like to think) new again!
Sue - You actually bother baking anything in a little 9" square pan?? ;o) (I do my brownie recipe in a 9" square pan, too.)
I'm going to try that substitution. Great idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's me, the few I've planted I just threw out the seed and nothing happens, the vine grows for awhile then dies. No prep to the soil or anything since I don't put them in my raised beds. I think I may actually try harder next year for some little pie pumpkins, we really want our homegrown pumpkins to go into our Pumpkin Ale!
ReplyDeleteI like my bars/cakes juuuust slightly undercooked. Kinda smushy! That's why I loved the idea of the honey in yours!
ReplyDeleteBeth - I think you'll really like them. I hope so anyway. ;o)
ReplyDeleteErin - I always plant pumpkins and squash by making a little mounded hill on the soil (maybe a foot in diameter and that high if I can rake the soil up). Then I plant 5-6 seeds around the top, and thin to the 2 strongest plants when they emerge.
APG - Ah, raw cake batter. ;o) (I bet you have to be watched around raw cookie dough, too.)