Highlight of Fall: Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
If you haven’t heard, the 2009-2010 canned pumpkin shortage is history! So get that can opener cranked up because if you don’t bake a pan of these crazy-good Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting for Thanksgiving, you might as well skip the holiday all together. And you wouldn’t want to disappoint the pilgrims.
Although I mostly make these bars in a sheet cake pan, I sometimes bake them as mini Bundt cakes. Once they are cooled, I slice them horizontally, spread a little frosting, put the top back on, and fill the middle with more frosting.
If you love these flavors, also try pumpkin cake with maple buttercream, maple nut bars and triple butterscotch cupcakes butterscotch maple frosting.
What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving sweets?
Sweet wishes,
Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- 15×10 jelly roll pan
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bars
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened , 12 tablespoons
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2⅓ cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 2 teaspoons maple flavoring
- sprinkle of ground cinnamon for topping
Instructions
Pumpkin Bars
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 15×10 jelly roll pan.
- In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- In a separate large bowl beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin.
- Gradually beat in flour mixture. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat softened cream cheese, 3 Tablespoons butter, and powdered sugar with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth. Add flavoring. Add a little more powdered sugar if you want it thicker. Spread on completely cooled bars. Lightly sprinkle with cinnamon.
Nutrition
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All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
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