Easy Pumpkin Bars

These simply flavorful and delicious easy pumpkin bars topped with a cream cheese frosting is just what your Thanksgiving dessert table needs. Soft cake packed with pumpkin and spices and frosted with a sweet and creamy cream cheese frosting. Need I say more?

Is there a fall staple at your house? At ours, we like to make homemade apple cider (in the crock pot!) or apple recipes like this apple crumble. My husband also always asks for pumpkin recipes like easy pumpkin bars or pumpkin spice cookies.

I am happy to help him out with that because, well, we all like it. When I top it with this cream cheese frosting, everyone is even happier. These bars will be perfect at your Thanksgiving dessert table or while sipping a cup of hot tea on the porch while the cool fall breezes blow.

Either way.

Ingredients

You will need:

• pumpkin
• eggs
• sugar
• oil
• vanilla
• flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• cinnamon
• salt

I know pumpkin is a little hard to come by in particular places of the world right now. You can use your own homemade pumpkin, if you can get your hands on a baking pumpkin.

For this recipe, if you want to add a pinch of nutmeg, you are more than welcome to. Take heed though, nutmeg goes a long way so a pinch will more than likely be plenty.

Steps

This pumpkin dessert recipe doesn't require a lot of steps. It is more of a throw everything into a bowl and stir process. (Which I enjoy!)

First, you will want to mix all the wet ingredients in a large bowl. I advise you to use a hand mixer. If you don't have one, you can use a wooden spoon.

The hand mixer seems to blend the eggs and sugar the best.

After mixing the wet ingredients, mix in the rest of the ingredients. I did use a wooden spoon for that.

You will want to mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

What type of pan?

These bars rise very well because of the baking soda and baking powder.

See also: What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda.

I have put the batter in a 9x13 cake pan and it worked well. The 10x15 inch pan I think it works maybe a bit better if you are looking for the bars verses a cake like dessert.

Regardless of the type of pan you use, you will NOT need to grease the pan first. The oil in the recipe will keep the bars from sticking.

What about the frosting?

The frosting for these pumpkin bars is a cream cheese frosting. It only has four ingredients and it is super easy to make. You can find the cream cheese frosting recipe here if you want to print it out for later.

The frosting ingredients are:

8 oz cream cheese, ¼ cup softened butter or margarine, 2 teaspoon vanilla and 2 cups powdered sugar.

First mix together the cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer. Then mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla, slowly and carefully. (You don't want powdered sugar to fly around in your kitchen.)

Then spread on top of cooled cake.

Storage

I like to keep these cool in the fridge. To store them, put them in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. You can also cover the pan with plastic wrap to store.

They probably won't last the 4 days. They are that good.

Pin for later!

📖 Recipe