Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
If you don’t bake a pan of these crazy-good pumpkin bars with maple cream cheese frosting for Halloween or Thanksgiving, you may as well skip the holidays all together. And you wouldn’t want to disappoint the ghosts and pilgrims.
Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree
In 2024, my neighbor Tonya gifted me a bunch of pie pumpkins from her garden. Since canned pumpkin puree is a staple in my pantry, I learned how to roast pie pumpkins and make my own puree to store in the freezer.
So, I showed Ashley and Mitchell how to make it on KELOLAND Living. Learn how in the video below.
Swirl the Maple Cream Cheese Frosting with a Fork
If you have a fork, you can make your pan of bars look fancy. Just swirl a line down the pan and then turn the pan and swirl a line going the other way down. Repeat until your pan is fully swirled and fancy.
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 fall, Halloween, and 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
Go back to the recipe by scanning this QR code:
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
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