For a multitude of reasons September is one of my favorite months of the year. And it's not just because it's my birthday month. Although that alone would make it reason enough, especially considering how great this birthday was. It wasn't evan one of those significant birthdays, you know the ones. The ones where you enter your teenage years (that was a lifetime ago), the ones entitling you to privileges (driving, voting, drinking), those marking the start of a new decade, or the ones putting me in a new running age group. No, this was a birthday without any new entitlements or ending in a zero. Yet, in spite of this, a group of some valued women in my life, affectionately known as the posse, made this birthday memorable. In addition to the 'feeding my Lululemon addiction' gift card, they bought me a gift causing me to weep in public. There have been only a handful of times in my life when I was brought to tears over receiving a gift I considered to be beyond generous, thoughtful, or a complete surprise. And this gift was all of those and more. Drum roll please.....I am now the happy, proud, over the moon owner of the domain name saltedsugaredspiced.com!!!! While the address saltedsugaredspiced.blogspot.com still exists, the blog is now a .com! Even now as I am writing this, I can still feel my emotions bubbling up to the surface and a compelling urge to do backflips. At the moment you can still find the blog either address. But if you typed in saltedsugaredspiced.com (I can't stop saying it) in your browser this labor of love, ever evolving blog would come up! So cool.
Described as 'light and spiced', I couldn't help but wonder about the taste and texture of these Pumpkin Spice Bars.
After tasting them, I think only a throw down would determine whether these bars or these Pumpkin Squares is best. Personally, I am not sure I could choose.
The spiciness in these Pumpkin Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Icing comes from five, yes, five different spices. Cinnamon, allspice, ground ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, all in varying amounts, combine to create balanced flavorfulness in the bars. Unlike the recently posted Ginger Cream Squares, these are not heavily spiced. In fact, I would describe them as being perfectly spiced. The spices alone had my interest, however, when I saw the recipe called only for one cup pumpkin puree, I worried it wouldn't be pumpkin-y enough. Seems I worried needlessly.
In addition to the spices and pumpkin puree, there are no unusual or hard to find ingredients used in these Pumpkin Spice Bars. More than likely you have all of them in your refrigerator or cupboard. Note: The recipe calls for three eggs. One of the eggs I used had a double yolk!
Two bowls and two whisks are all you need to create the batter for the pumpkin spice bars. To quote the Barefoot Contessa 'how easy is that?'.
Using a 7" x 12" or 8" x 11" baking pan, the bars bake in a pre-heated 375 degree (F) oven for approximately 30 minutes (original recipe had a recommended 35-40 minute range). Using a 7" x 12" baking pan, these bars baked to height of almost 1.5 inches. Which means if you use a slightly larger pan, your bars will be shorter in height (aka thinner) and your baking time might be altered.
Allow your Pumpkin Spice Bars to cool completely before topping them with the cream cheese icing. Simply slater the cream cheese icing and create swirls using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon or use a pastry bag or bags fitted with various tips to create your desired finishing touch. Note: The cream cheese icing recipe below yields about a cup more of icing than you need. Store unused icing in a covered container. It keeps well in the refrigerator. Or cut the recipe below in half if you like more pumpkin bar than icing.
Most of my friends and family like a generous amount of cream cheese icing on their baked goods. These Pumpkin Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Icing had a rather healthy bar to icing ratio!
If I were to do one thing differently the next time I make these bars (and there will be a next time) it would be to chill them for at least four hours before cutting them into squares or rectangles. I may even have to give the Toasted Meringue topping a try!
If you love all or some things pumpkin spiced, you will absolutely fall in love these Pumpkin Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Icing! They are light, moist, perfectly spiced, and borderline addictive. Does it get any better than that?
Let the pumpkin puree buying and pumpkin baking season begin!
Pumpkin Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Icing (inspired by Rebecca Firth's Pumpkin Spice Bars with Toasted Meringue recipe from her cookbook "The Cookie Book: Decadent Bites for Every Occasion")
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Bars
12 Tablespoons (172 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups (231 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (5 g) cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons (6 g) baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Cream Cheese Icing
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (or combination of unsalted butter and margarine)
6 cups confectionary sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla
Generous pinch of sea salt
Directions
Pumpkin Spice Bars
1. Preheat oven to 375 degree (F). Line a 7" x 12" or 8" x 11"baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly butter bottom of the parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, granulated sugar, water, eggs, and vanilla until well combined.
4. Pour the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking sheet. Smooth top with an offset spatula or back of a spoon.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes on the center rack. Begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes (as this was my baking time). Let cool completely in the pan.
Cream Cheese Icing and Assembly
1. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (approximately 3 minutes).
2. Mix in the vanilla and salt.
3. Blend in the sifted confectionary sugar, two cups at a time. Beat until icing is smooth, creamy, and fluffy.
4. Remove cooled pumpkin squares from the pan and place on a large flat platter or cutting board.
5. Spread cream cheese icing over the cooled pumpkin spice bars or use a pastry bag to pipe icing onto the bars.
6. Place iced Pumpkin Spice Bars in the refrigerator for approximately 3-4 hours before cutting into squares.
7. Swoon, serve and enjoy. Store bars lightly covered in the refrigerator.
Notes: (1) The gram measurement for the flour is based on 132 g per cup of flour. The gram measurement for both the brown sugar and granulated is based on 200 g per cup. (2) Use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. (3) The Pumpkin Spice Bars are even more delicious when chilled. (4) I used Kerrygold Butter for the bars and the icing.
Farm Stand in Westport, Massachusetts (September 2018)
