Fall baking is in full swing in our house. After an unfortunate afternoon when I couldn’t bake because I was completely out of semi sweet chocolate chips (despite an over-abundance of dark chocolate, white chocolate and mint), my baking supplies are fully stocked. I have plenty of chocolate chips of ALL varieties, and let’s just say that I’d be all set if another canned pumpkin shortage happened to hit. Not quite sure how I ended up with so much pumpkin.
In any event, I put my baking stores to good use and whipped up these pumpkin chocolate chip bars. They’re moist, fluffy and cake-like – somewhat reminiscent of my all-time favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They’re pretty much those cookies, but in bar form. They were well-received by my family, and I may or may not have brewed a cup of tea on Sunday morning, popped a bar on my saucer and called it breakfast.
This recipe, like many recipes for pumpkin bakes goods, calls for pumpkin pie spice. Sure, you can pick up a jar of this spice blend in the store, but it’s just several common spices mixed together. If you have cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice, you’re good to go. Click here for a break down of my favorite pumpkin pie spice ratios.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 12 oz. package semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan with foil and spray the bottom with coking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined and then beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled).
- Add dry ingredients mix on low speed until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes.
- Cool completely in pan before removing, cutting and serving.
Adapted from Martha Stewart
