Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

I just love the scent of pumpkin spice. I crave the scents of  fall. These fabulous Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars from the blog Faithfulness Farm  are wonderful for a Thanksgiving dessert. 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.

I am joining Alison at The Polohouse for Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes and Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.
Thank you for stopping by!

 Debbie

FAVORITES ON THE FIRST

 

The inspiration behind the Lavender Cookie Bars came from the Garden and Herb Fest that I attend each year. At the fest, they had many different food items made with herbs, including the lavender cookie bars. I didn't have a recipe, and was surprised I couldn't find anything similar on the internet, so played around with a few recipes and had success. Here's a picture below of the one I had at the fest, served ice cream sandwich style.

So, off I went to my lavender patch, and came up with this recipe.

 

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups soft butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup white chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons chopped lavender

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, with electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Stir in chips. Spread evenly in an ungreased 15 x 10-inch shallow-rimmed pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool in pan. Cut into bars.

I topped my bars with black cherry ice cream which is my absolute favorite flavor (strawberry and chocolate are not too far behind). I opened the box of ice cream, and quickly cut it into slices. I placed the ice cream slices on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and put in the freezer until solid. Then I wrapped the slices individually with wax paper, and put in zip loc bags.