HappyTummy              

Fall is here! It’s my absolute favorite time of year. There’s a chill in the air, the holidays are right around the corner and I’m always so inspired to bake…I just love it.

At a neighbor’s little get-together last week, she baked the most delicious cake–a moist, dense pumpkin cake slathered with a thick, cream cheese frosting. I got her recipe and later that weekend, I tried it myself, only instead of a sheet cake, I halved the recipe and made them in a mini-Bundt pan. I also used whole wheat flour and drizzled the cakes with an icing glaze of just powdered sugar thinned out with a few drops of soymilk.

When I went grocery shopping for the ingredients, I purposely bought the 29 oz. can of pureed pumpkin so I could freeze the leftover portion for later. I’ve got a couple of pumpkin recipes I’d like to try out…I’ll wait for the weather to get even colder and the holiday spirit to get stronger before I whip that frozen puree out for another yummy dessert!

Recipe: Pumpkin Bars
Adapted from Paula Deen’s recipe, as featured on Foodnetwork.com

• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

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 flours, 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.