Brown Sugar Frosting

Brown Sugar Frosted Pumpkin Bars

I wanted to write about this recipe long before now- because it seems pumpkin has a life of between late august and late November. Once Pumpkin Pie has taken center stage at Thanksgiving, it get pushed back into the back of the pantry and recipe lists. I love a bar cookie, and this fits the bill. Its a dense pumpkin cake bar with a brown sugar frosting, read: LOVE. It isn’t too sweet, and the pumpkin flavor is accented with all of the great spices that go with it, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The bars are easy to assemble, mixing in one bowl, and the frosting is also relatively easy. You could actually make the bars without the frosting and they resemble a less spicy gingerbread with pumpkin shining through.

These were made for a fall party and they were a hit. I also liked that it was another excuse to cook with pumpkin and feature it NOT in a pie.

The original recipe is from www.handletheheat.com and I tinkered with the recipe to use all of the pumpkin I had in my container. I purchased organic pumpkin, and there was enough left over that I increased the amounts. If you wanted to try to make this gluten free, I don’t think it would impact the end result of the pumpkin bars. I used regular flour, but the density would remain the same.

On the side of frosting, I did follow the recipe exactly, and felt it could have used more confectioner’s sugar to be a thicker, lighter more frosting-er frosting. However, when you make a frosting with two types of sugar, the last thing you want to add is more sugar, especially when the bars themselves are healthy(er than usual recipes you see here).

These held their shape when packing into lunches, and stayed moist for almost a week in a sealed container, which is pretty amazing when it comes to dessert!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe!

Brown Sugar Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Print Recipe

Pumpkin bars frosted with a brown sugar frosting! Recipe adapted from Handle the Heat’s Pumpkin Bars with Brown Sugar Frosting.

• Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Pumpkin Bars:

• 1 3/4 Cup Pumpkin Puree
• 2 1/4 Cup Flour
• 14 Tablespoons (I stick and 6 Tablespoons) Butter, melted
• 2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 3/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 3/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Brown Sugar Frosting:

• 1 Stick (8 Tablespoons) Butter
• 1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/8 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 + Tablespoon of Milk (more if needed)

Instructions

1. Line a 9×13 Pan with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 350*
3. Combine Flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
4. In a mixer, combined butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin puree.
5. Gently add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes or until tester comes out clean from center of pan.
8. Cool

To make frosting:

1. In a mixer, combine butter and sugar until light and creamy.
2. Add cinnamon, salt and gradually add confectioner’s sugar.
3. When all of the ingredients are combined, add milk and vanilla, until frosting is the right consistency.
4. Frost pumpkin bars with frosting. Cut into squares or bars.