Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars, Sunflowers and a Cozy Cabin It Will Be

I just love the scent of pumpkin spice! And even though I am not ready to give up summer weather,  I am craving the scent of fall. And the forecast for this weekend says it's going to get down to 29 degrees on Friday. Sheesh, I am sooooo not ready for cool temperatures. I am bringing flannel jammies to the cabin and the wood stove will be cranking! 

These fabulous Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars from the blog Faithfulness Farm  were calling my name.  The recipe makes a 10" x 15" pan, so be prepared to share :-)  I made a trial batch for my office, and I asked them to rate them. They gave the bars five stars out of five!!

Recipe for Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars:

Bars:

2-1/4 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
16 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup rolled quick oats

Filling:
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1-3/4 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 large eggs

Glaze drizzle:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar and molasses until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Reserve 3/4 cup of this mixture and place in a small bowl. Scoop the remaining mixture into a 10" x 15" baking pan lightly coated with nonstick spray. Add the oats to the reserved mixture and mix until combined - set aside.

 

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and mix until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing just until combined. Scoop the mixture over the uncooked base and use an off-set spatula to evenly spread the mixture over the top. Crumble reserved oat mixture over filling.

 

Bake until the topping is a golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

 

For glaze drizzle, in a small bowl, mix together confectioners' sugar, butter and vanilla. Mix in just enough milk until the mixture will easily flow from a spoon - drizzle over cooled bars.

If I could have only one flower, it would be easy for me to choose. It would be the beloved sunflower. They truly make my heart go pitter patter. When I drive by a field of sunflowers, I pause and reflect on their beauty.

The sunflower plates were purchased at Wegman's a while back. Each summer, I look forward to their return. We use them and enoy them!

We have been enjoying the table we bought at the Mackenzie-Childs Barn Sale, and I have been working with Ballard Designs on the parsons chairs and covers that I ordered. Their customer service has been outstanding. There was a little oops on the monogrammed chair covers that I ordered (you can see the ripple around the monogram in the photo below), but they agreed to have them redone and let me keep the ones that weren't quite right. Not sure what I will do with them :-)

I am joining Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch and Foodie Friday with this post.

Thank you for stopping by!

 Debbie