Cake of the Week: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars with Pumpkin Buttercream

Oh man, Eat Run Read starts the great crust debate, huh? I’m surprised that so many of you have such strong feelings! (But actually not that surprised, people who love food really love food.) So let’s take a vote, shall we? Leave a comment with your opinion:

Crust: Traditional or Graham Cracker?

Someone will win something…though I’m not sure what yet…

Moving on to crust-less foods, I’m brining you one more pumpkin Thanksgiving possibility. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars with Pumpkin Buttercream. These “bars” are very cake-like, but delicious! I made them for SpeedyKate’s birthday and was surprised by how many of my teammates like post-workout cake! (Directly after running is just about the only time I don’t like cake.)

The pumpkin buttercream was good, but not as ground-breaking as I expected. I think I still prefer the peanut butter cream cheese frosting.

And speaking of running, I did my first workout in a long long while last night! Just a simple 1200, 800, 3x400 on the track with the few teammates not going away for Thanksgiving. Woohoo! If I can run a 5k, I can probably handle a workout, right? It went well – I ran consistently and didn’t over-do it, thought my hamstring is a wee bit sore today (I’m sitting on an ice pack right now). So maybe I’m making a comeback…again…

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars (from Cook Woman Food)

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2 cups cooked pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar (this is where I made the change to 3/4 c. brown and 3/4 cup white sugar)
1 cup oil or 1 cup butter (to lighten it up, use 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce)
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, nuts, or dried cranberries or raisins

1. Combine the 1st 6 ingredients. Set aside.
2. Mix together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Beat well. Add in the dry ingredients.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Spread in an ungreased 15 x 10 pan. Bake in a 350* oven for aobut 35-40 minutes.

Pumpkin Butter Cream (from Loves to Eat)

2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 lbs. confectioner’s sugar (more or less)

Cream butter, pumpkin and spices. Slowly add sugar until the buttercream is no longer seperated by the pumpkin. Use or keep chilled for up to 2 weeks.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And don't forget to leave your crust comment below!