Weekend Recipe Review - Part 2 - Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

The only thing that I got around to baking this weekend was Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars.  Well, I did bake a coffee cake for breakfast Sunday morning that I promplty dropped in the church parking lot, so we're not counting that.

Joelen mentioned these bars last week and I just knew that I had to find that recipe!

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars from Bakespace

Bars:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

16 tablespoons 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 mashed pumpkin

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 large eggs

Drizzle:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

Bars:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

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.

Filling:

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.

Add pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves - 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.

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.

They came out prefect and were so "fall" tasting.  After the first day I knew they had to leave the house, so I sent them to work with Troy.