These Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips are a simple and delicious fall dessert that can be customized to your liking and only takes a few minutes to whip up!
These Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips are a simple and delicious fall dessert that can be customized to your liking and only takes a few minutes to whip up!
I absolutely love almost anything pumpkin flavored, and these pumpkin bars are no exception. They’re dense and moist and lightly pumpkin flavored, which makes them a perfect vehicle for any changes and/or additions you might want to try.
For example, I only sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the bars, but you could mix them in and have a more pumpkin/chocolate experience. I’ll give you some measurements of potential mix-ins later in the post.
These are a sort of cake/cookie/brownie hybrid, and my husband told me that they taste a little bit like coffee cake, so I’ve been using that as an excuse to have them for breakfast as well as dessert!
Shopping List for Pumpkin Bars
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Eggs
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Sugar
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Butter
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Canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)
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Vanilla extract
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Flour
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Pumpkin pie spice
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Cinnamon
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Chocolate chips
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Walnuts or Pecans (optional)
Let’s Talk About These Pumpkin Bars
My favorite part of this recipe is just how easy it is to make. Aside from melting the butter, everything else gets mixed together in one bowl and poured into one pan. Easy peasy!
It’s also a super customizable recipe. If you wanted to add nuts, either pecans or walnut would be great. I mentioned before that you could add chocolate chips to the entire thing rather than just having them on the top. If you did that, you could frost the bars instead. Cream cheese frosting would be fantastic on these.
Recipe Highlights
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Easy to make
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Delicious fall flavors
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Traditional pumpkin pie flavors
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Customizable
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Great for dessert OR breakfast 😊
FAQ’s
If I wanted to add nuts or chocolate chips, how much should I add? I would go with 1 cup of either, or a half a cup of each if you wanted to add both. (which would be awesome, by the way)
Is the batter supposed to be this thick? Yes! This is a dense and moist cake, which means a dense batter.
Can I make my own pumpkin pie spice? You sure can!
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4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
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2 teaspoons ground ginger
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1 teaspoon ground cloves
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½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
If you don’t have ready access to these spices, it’s probably less expensive to just buy the pumpkin pie spice.
Tips and Tricks
Room temperature eggs: if you don’t have time to let the eggs come to room temperature on their own, you can place them in a glass with lukewarm water for 3-4 minutes, which will bring them closer to temperature much more quickly.
You want room temperature eggs because all of the ingredients will mix together much more easily that way.
Pumpkin: use pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. The bars will be WAY too sweet if you use pumpkin pie filling.
Leftover pumpkin: I’ll be posting some ideas for what to do with the leftover pumpkin in the next few days. In the meantime, you can place any leftovers from the can in a Tupperware and place it in the fridge for about a week.
Frosting: THIS is a great cream cheese frosting that would be absolutely fantastic on these bars.
What are some of your favorite pumpkin recipes? Let me know in the comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe for more delicious fall recipes!
OTHER DELICIOUS PUMPKIN RECIPES
9 bars
Sara Rauckhorst
5 Min
40 Min
45 Min
Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line an 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper, allowing a little bit of overhang on each side.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the eggs well. Add the sugar, butter, pumpkin and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed.
- Add the flour and spices and beat on low until fully combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the chocolate chips all over the top of the bars.
- Bake for 40 minutes, checking for doneness about 5-10 minutes early. Bars are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the bars cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove them using the overhanging parchment paper, and finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Notes:
Bars are best when fully cooled.
Store at room temperature covered for 2 days or in the fridge, covered for up to a week.
World!
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