Fruit and Nut Pumpkin Bars
Thick pumpkin bars with a cake-brownie type texture loaded with dried cranberries, raisins and dates.
Servings 18 bars
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, weigh or measure carefully (250 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder, scant
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt (reduce to ¼ if using salted butter)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅝ teaspoon allspice
- 2 sticks unsalted or salted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 2 teaspoons molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup canned pumpkin, Libby's (260 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup miniature white chocolate chips
- 1 cup toasted chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup chopped dates or raisins
- ½ cup yellow raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil and grease the foil.
- Combine flour, baking powder baking soda, salt and spices in a medium size bowl and stir well.
- In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and molasses until creamy. Beat in egg, pumpkin and vanilla extract. Do not whip, just mix until blended.
- Add flour mixture and stir until mixed. The batter will be pretty thick.
- Add the fruit, nuts and white chips. Stir until evenly mixed, then spread in the pan. Pat it down evenly (best way is to put your hands under the faucet, shake off the water and use slightly damped fingers).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and top appears set with small cracks. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then lift foil from the pan and set the bars on the counter. Let cool completely. If you want to speed up the process you can let cool on the counter for 15 minutes, then transfer to the freezer to quick cool. I like to freeze the bars, cut them while frozen, then let thaw.
- For the yield I have 18 which gives you pretty large bars. If you want to pile them on a plate, you may want to cut into 18 bars, then cut into bars, then cut into small squares.