Using Pumpkin...in April

The sun is shining and the trees are in bud and the forsythia is in bloom. And this is not the time of year to be thinking about pumpkin. But, one of the women in my department was celebrating her 10 year company anniversary today and her favorite sweet is pumpkin pie. Well, I didn't want to do the traditional, so I pulled out the recipe I got from http://dozenflours.com/and whipped it up for today. Awhile ago, I made the plain Snickerdoodle Bars off her blog and commented on how great they were. She wrote back to say if I liked those,I should try them with the pumpkin. All I can say is that this has the WOW factor. The fact that the recipe looks long belies the actual time to prepare it. It goes together easily and the house is fragrant with the baking spices. When it was cool, I drizzled it in a crisscross fashion with the white chocolate glaze and put it in the fridge overnight. It was gone in 2 hours today...clean plate! It was a hit and a lot of people were asking for the recipe. So I am definitely putting this in my fall folder of wonderful desserts. I could see this with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top and drizzled with caramel sauce....like a brownie sundae. Plus it is a great alternative to pumpkin pie.

NOTE: For the drizzle, I filled my Pampered Chef little decorator with the glaze and used the small tip. I went back and forth over the top in a diagonal fashion and crossed it the opposite way....quite pretty.

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars

Snickerdoodle Layer

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, at room temperature

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Layer

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs, at room temperature

1-1/2 cups Libby pure canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 oz white chocolate, chopped

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan and lay a piece of parchment paper across the pan, so that it extends the pan slightly. The parchment paper is an optional step, but it will make it easier to get the bars out later.

To make snickerdoodle layer: Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be thick and cookiebatter-ish.)

In a mixer bowl (you can use the same one you used to make the snickerdoodle batter) with a paddle attachment, mix together all ingredients until well combined. This layer will be less thick and more pourable. Pour over the snickerdoodle layer, smoothing out the top.

Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake for 33-40 minutes (maybe more depending on your oven) or until a toothpick inserted into the *center* of the pan comes out clean.

Let the bars cool completely (about an hour). They will deflate a bit and remain a bit pie-like on the top layer. The bars that are closer to the edges of the pan will be more firm, but are still equally as yummy.

After the bars are completely cool, place the chopped white chocolate into a bowl or zip-lock bag and melt on low power. When it's completely melted, add the pumpkin pie spice and mix (or knead if using a zip lock bag). Use a spoon or cut a small corner off the bag and drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the bars and let it cool and harden. Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into bars. Store in a covered container.