Pumpkin Bars

This is what 5 hours of pumpkin looks like.  Yesterday, I spent 5 hours, washing, seeding, scraping, baking, and peeling 2 pumpkins.  It wasn't hard, just time consuming.  Each pumpkin took up 2 cookie sheets and each cookie sheet needed to bake for about 50 minutes. 

Turns out the pumpkins I bought were much larger than we needed and possibly the wrong kind of pumpkin.  I'm not sure what kind of pumpkin I bought, but I don't think it is a pie pumpkin as those are much smaller than these were.

The average pumpkin pie seems to take about 2 cups of pumpkin.  I don't know how much we have, but I think it is way more than 2 cups.  So I decided to make pumpkin bars for the Harvest Dinner today at Mom's church.  I found the recipe at My Kitchen Cafe.  I think I've mentioned how much I love My Kitchen Cafe.  It was originally a Paula Deen recipe.  I am also a big fan of Paula Deen. 

The bars turned out wonderfully.  I don't have a picture of the final product. After 7 hours in the kitchen yesterday, I went to bed without frosting them.  Mom frosted them this morning while I slept in as long as I could and still make it to church on time.  There were none left after the potluck.  Mom and I both had a piece.  We both really enjoyed it.  I think I might make some later this week for the students.  This was definitely a make again!

Pumpkin Bars (Printable Version)
from Paula Deen

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup oil)
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.