Recipe Tuesday :: Church Pumpkin Bars

I recently saw an advertisement for Starbucks that said "Fall starts with three letters, PSL."  Many of us understand that the taste of pumpkin equals fall.  (PSL stands for Pumpkin Spice Latte, if you hadn't figured that out.)  With the trees starting to change and the evenings getting chilly enough to turn on the pellet stove, a pumpkin recipe was in the cards.  Enter my family's favorite fall treat, Church Pumpkin Bars.

The recipe was given to us by our church to make for a CCD Family Night back when I was a kid and though it's gone through a bit of modification (the original asked for 1 cup of oil!) it's been a favorite ever since.  This year I topped it with my favorite Cream Cheese Frosting from all the cupcake making and I'm sure that will become a tradition as well.


Church Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups pumpkin (fresh cooked or 15oz canned pumpkin)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

1.)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.)  In a stand mixer add eggs, sugar and oil and mix until well blended.
3.)  Add pumpkin and blend well, then add in vanilla and mix.
4.)  In a separate bowl place the dry ingredients (flour through salt) and whisk until well blended.
      While mixer is going add the dry ingredients to the wet.
5.)  Grease and flour an 11 X 17 cake pan.  (You can spray it with non-stick spray instead.)
6.)  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7.)  Let the cake cool before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8oz (1 brick) cream cheese
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 to 2 Tbsp heavy cream (or milk)
1 tsp vanilla
2 to 5 cups confectioners sugar
(pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet)

1.)  Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature.
2.)  In a stand mixer add cream cheese and butter and blend until smooth.
3.)  Add 2 cups sugar and 1 Tbsp cream and blend until smooth (about 1 minute).
4.)  Add vanilla and 1 Tbsp cream (if needed) and blend for 1 full minute on high.
5.)  Add sugar one cup at a time and blend for 1 minute after each addition until frosting reaches the
      consistency you want.  My frosting is always sort of a soft-serve ice cream consistency.  Add in
      the pinch of salt at the end if you think it's too sweet.
6.)  Pour the frosting over the cake and smooth out, the frosting will harden just a bit on the top as it
      sits though it stays deliciously soft underneath.  You can also add chopped walnuts to the top if
      you'd like.

Doesn't that look like a plate of autumn decadence?