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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin sits atop
Chewy, sticky gingerbread
Hard to eat just one.
Uh oh.  I'm breaking out the haikus.  You know what that means, right?  Yes, a tough case of writer's block.  I have been staring at a blank screen for 2½ hours.  No joke.  Sure, I've taken minuscule breaks to surf the web.  Because that goes hand-in-hand with writer's block.

I just feel a little all over the place an unable to concentrate.  I think that if I could just take a bite of one of these bars, everything would be okay.  But alas, they disappeared a good two weeks ago.  They were tasty.  I loves me some pumpkin and I really luvs me some gingerbread, so how could putting the two together be wrong?  It couldn't.

This makes a big 'ol batch, so make them when you have a crowd to feed!

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

by Heather Schmitt-González
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-35 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert pumpkin molasses oats butter bars

Ingredients (~48 bars)
    for the gingerbread crust and crumble:
    • 1½ c. sugar
    • 1 c. unsalted butter, at room temp.
    • ¼ c. molasses
    • 2¼ c. all-purpose flour
    • 1½ tsp. baking soda
    • ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp. ground ginger
    • ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
    • ⅛ tsp. ground cloves
    • big pinch salt
    • ⅓ c. rolled oats
    for the pumpkin filling:
    • 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
    • ½ c. sugar
    • 6 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.
    • 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
    • ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp. ground ginger
    • ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
    • ⅛ tsp. ground cloves
    • pinch salt
    • 2 large eggs
    for the glaze:
    • ½ c. powdered sugar
    • ¼ tsp. vanilla bean paste
    • ~1 Tbs. milk
    Instructions
    Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 15"x10" baking sheet with a long sheet of parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the sheet.

    making the gingerbread crust and crumble:
    Cream the sugar, butter, and molasses in a large bowl on medium speed. Reduce speed to low and add flour, baking soda, spices, and salt; beat until well combined.

    Remove ¾ of a cup of the mixture and place it in a small bowl. Knead in the oats; set aside.
    Press remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking sheet evenly.

    making the filling:
    Combine all ingredients except the eggs in a large bowl and beat until thoroughly mixed. Beat in the eggs. Pour mixture over the gingerbread layer in the pan.

    finishing:
    Crumble the reserved gingerbread/oat mixture over the filling. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the topping is golden and filling is set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

    glaze:
    Combine powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla bean paste in a small bowl. Stir in milk, one tablespoon at a time, until you have a drizzle-able consistency. Drizzle over cooled bars.

    Store, loosely covered, in the fridge.

    adapted from All About the Holidays
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    Welcome to day #4 of Christmas Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita’s Cocina. Today’s theme for Christmas Week is “Gingerbread Surprise”. Make sure you visit all the participating bloggers today to see what special dish they whipped up for you.


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