Ingredients
For the bars:
- 1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) pumpkin puree
For the frosting:
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk, plus more if needed
Directions
To make the bars:
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 8 by 8-inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang.
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In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.
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In another medium bowl whisk together the butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
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Bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting:
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In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light, fluffy, and smooth. Add in the cinnamon and salt. On low speed gradually add in the powered sugar until incorporated. Add in the vanilla and milk and increase the speed to medium-high. Beat until very light and fluffy. If too runny, add more powered sugar, If too thick, add more milk. Spread evenly all over the pumpkin bars.
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Cut into squares before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
This recipe is easily doubled for a crowd!
That frosting looks so fluffy. And I am already dreaming about it’s taste. The bars sound delicious!
I need to make these, like, yesterday. They look so amazing! Also – a 10 minute FB suck is nothing! Ugh – it’s so bad! I’ll go on FB to look something up and 20 minutes later I don’t know what I came there for anymore!
That brown sugar frosting is to die for, especially paired with the pumpkin! As for FB thankfully I tend to resist getting sucked in too often but Instagram is slowly taking over my life.
Have you tried to make the bar base with browned butter instead of melted butter? I’m wondering, with all the autumnal spices, if you can still taste the difference from browning the butter instead? Either way, these bars will be happening in my kitchen tonight!
These bars look so good! I love the use of brown sugar in the frosting, it must add such a nice flavour especially paired with the pumpkin in the bars.
For some reason I’ve always liked dessert best at breakfast. It’s breakfast time now and I’m totally craving these! That frosting!!
Tessa – What size pan would you use for a doubled recipe to keep the same thickness? I want to bring these to work and KNOW they will be inhaled instantly, as I work in a hospital unit. “Autumn on crack”, too funny! Love your site!
haha autumn on crack! perfect description for these warm spices starting to fill our houses! these look delicious!
These look absolutely delicious! And yes, I am a sucker for a good, trashy gossip magazine….it’s a vice.
Will this pumpkin bar recipe work in cupcakes.?
And is it possible to make brown sugar frosting in Swiss buttercream style?
Cant wait to try the fall recipes….thanks.
I made these for church today. Had a request for the recipe and there were no leftovers! Definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you for sharing this.
Love to hear that! Thanks for your wonderful comment.
Ah, wonderful! I just finished baking and my colleagues will be very happy. Husband is not so happy, because geht gets nothing. Poor husband.
Haha!
I made these on Sunday and my hubby LOVES them. My only challenge was the frosting was a bit crunchy. Did I not beat the brown sugar and butter long enough? I will be making these again!!!!!
That frosting will be a must this season! And yes, I’ll tell myself I’ll just be on fb for a few seconds, but then I get sucked in and half an hour has passed!
I don’t know if you didn’t list an ingredient or I did something wrong, but these didn’t turn out for me at all. They are dense and more like a pancake texture. Trying a new recipe – sad face 🙁
Can recipe be doubled to use a 9 x 13 pan?
Do you think I could omit the 1 egg? Or should I maybe try replacing it with apple sauce? My son is allergic to egg & ive been looking for a pumpkin bar recipe. Most of them contain 3/4 eggs.
I made these and the texture of the cake was amazing! I didn’t make the frosting. The cake didn’t have enough spice for me, I think I will add more next time… Maybe it’s the brand I’m using. Also the cake cooked lumpy on top, I would have to smooth it out perfectly to make sure it was even and smooth. Other than that, great and easy recipe that I will make again.
I’m glad to hear that! Sometimes spices lose their intensity over time, so if they were a little older that could explain it. Or, it’s just a matter of preference 🙂
It looks delicious. What size pan would you use to double it? 9 × 13? Thanks!
Yep!
Has anybody doubled this recipe successfully? 🙂 I read in another comment that you can use a 9 x13 but I’m wondering if a half sheet would work ir if that would make them too thin. Also, do you bake for the same amount of time if you double it? Help! Thank you.
I just made this today and I double the recipe with no problems! I baked it on a 9×13 for 27 minutes and it turned out great!!
Happy to hear that, Liz!
I just made these yesterday. I accidentally broke it in half before icing, so the portion that didn’t become bars were mixed with the icing and dipped in chocolate. My husband went crazy over it! So far, Tessa, every recipe I’ve tried from you has been golden!
What a happy mistake!! I’m so happy to hear you’ve been enjoying the recipes 🙂
I made them tonight and turned them into cupcakes. Baked for 14 minutes.
They turned out terrible. Maybe just my taste but they were not sweet at all and pretty gross.
But, to answer the question, YES you can bake them as cupcakes.
Can you double the recipe for a 9by13 or a jelly roll pan?
I made these today. The flavor is perfect and the frosting is great. However, the cake needs to bake for much longer than 25 minutes. I baked it for almost 30 and the toothpick was still coming out pretty wet, but because of the warning I decided to take it out anyway – big mistake. The only edible part was the outside edges. Disappointing after all of that effort.
Excellent and great icing!
Can you bake the bars ahead and freeze them (sans icing of course)? I have a cup of puree to use up but just made 5.5 dozen pumpkin muffins so don’t need the bars ATM. But reallllly want to try them!! Lol
Super tasty and easy to make! The cake is not too sweet, so the frosting really balances out the flavor. Will definitely make it again!
OMG – what a great recipe! We grow our own pumpkins in our garden so I make my own puree and freeze them and take them out when I’m ready to use them. Since our new crop is almost ready, I decided to give this recipe a try with the puree still left in my freezer! WOW! What a great surprise! The texture of the bars are perfect and the frosting is to die for! I will surely keep this recipe for future use! Thank you so much! Absolutely yum!
Looks yummy! A good alternative to pumpkin pie…actually, pies in general, and cream cheese frosting (and all things cream cheese, which seems to be on almost everything). I’m probably the only person who dislikes both. And yes, I too get caught in the internet trap. I’ll get up, get on the computer, and then look at the clock wonder where all that time went! 😉
I don’t have some of the spices but I do have a fresh pumpkin pie spice. If I were to swap that out, how much do you suppose I should put in? Tablespoon maybe?
Hello, can this recipe be made in a 9 inch round pan?
There is an ingredient missing from this recipe; the batter was absolutely not “pourable”. Most disappointing is the lack of attention to the site and comments from professional Tessa.
Made this for Christmas Eve. It is very dense. The frosting is good, but overall this is not something I’ll make again
Very delicious! I didn’t have any nutmeg so I added 1/8 tsp. clove to the cake batter and i added more powdered sugar and milk to increase the volume of frosting. That’s the only changes I made and my hubby really liked it (and he’s picky)! Thanks for the great recipe, I will make this again!
What is pumpkin puree? Is it the same as canned pumpkin?
yes!
Thank you so much for responding so quickly. I look forward to making these very soon since I have all the ingredients.
Would you please convert this recipe into cupcake form for me?
Uh oh! My house smells like autumn on crack now!
Do you think the frosting would be ok if frozen? I would like to make and Frost the bars and then freeze them. Thanks
I would advise freezing the frosting separately so you can defrost and re-whip with an electric mixer. Otherwise it’ll curdle upon defrosting on the bars. Hope that helps!
Everyone at the event went crazy for these and just had to have the recipe. Someone even said for Thanksgiving they will only make these and forget about the pumpkin pie. Great recipe!
Can this recipe be doubled and baked on a large cookie sheet/ jelly roll pan?
Can I make these the night before or is it best the day of? I’m worried that they’ll dry out overnight.
These were so delicious (the frosting was amazing)!! What a great recipe! I made the bars and put them in the fridge over night then made the frosting the next day and they turned out great! I’ll definitely be making these again!
These are amazing! The icing is to die for! I am going to use the icing for macarons the next time I make it. Thank you!
Amazing! I’m not a pumpkin person at all; so I made these grudgingly for the rest of the fam back in 2018. The frosting is to die for but the pumpkin bar itself is perfectly spiced and not too pumpkin-y. Just really yummy, moist and not too sweet – – in spite of the brown sugar title!
Making these again for our adults-only Halloween party. Enjoy!
I hate anything pumpkin but these are the best things ive ever tasted! That frosting is amazing seriously
I am giving this recipe an overall 2 but that is actually 4 for the frosting and 0 for the bar. It is basically tasteless and after making, suggested to hubby I could rework it, adding more spices for flavor. He basically said there was no sense to wasting time trying to tweak this into being good. Will save the frosting recipe to use on maybe carrot or spice cake-we’ll see.
how would you make this at high altitude? i live in colorado so things don’t ever bake the same.
This recipe worked out great! I substituted margarine for the cake portion and it turned out fine. I made this for a church social and my husband was kind enough to save me the last piece.
Will gladly use this recipe again to finish off any leftover canned pumpkin in the future. :)Thanks for sharing.
These are so good! The house smells divine while they’re baking. It’s hard not to keep from cutting into them while warm, but wait until you add the frosting. I’ll definitely make these again!
The Brown Sugar Frosting was terrible… I had already frosted the bars and had to scrape off the frosting. It was so grainy that it felt gritty when when I took a bite. What you call slightly crunchy does not fully describe the gritty texture. I had to refrost with another recipe.
Hi Shirley — I’m sorry to hear that however the frosting needs to be beaten with an electric mixer until smooth as per the directions. If you brown sugar is dried out that can cause a problem. If you try it again, give the frosting a taste to ensure it’s smooth before applying to the bars 🙂
Hi there,
can you use dark brown sugar for the icing instead of the light brown sugar? Thanks!
These are yummy! My frosting wasn’t fluffy, it was quite solid even with adding milk. Maybe I did something wrong, but it is still delicious! Can it be frozen once baked and frosted? I made a double batch and have family coming in 5 days and want it to still taste fresh.
Do you scoop/measure the powdered sugar, then sift it, or do you sift it into the measuring cup?
Had fresh pumpkin puree I wanted to use, and found this recipe there’s only two of us, so it’s perfect that it’s an 8×8 pan worth, and these are freaking awesome!!!
just make them yum yum
Best way to bake this if the recipe is doubled?
Thank you
If I double this recipe and use a 9X13 pan, would the cooking time and baking temperature stay the same?
Fantastic treat! These were super easy to make too. Thanks Tessa!
That frosting!!!I love pumpkin bars and cookies but hate cream cheese frosting, which people always seem use with pumpkin. So happy to have found what is now my favorite frosting ever! Thank you for this wonderful alternative!
The bars taste great – but turned out flat and thick. I didn’t overmix, measure carefully and only cooked 23 minutes. Thoughts? The frosting is divine. I added a splash of bourbon. Saw another comment on the thread about brown butter and may try that. Thanks for the recipe. I’m def going to try my hand at it again! (Note – I do live in low altitude).
Delicious! And easy to make. I cut them into squares and piped a bit of frosting onto each one. My family asked me to make them again for Thanksgiving.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! I hope these bars are a hit on Thanksgiving as well!
These are the bomb! I made them twice and both times ate almost the whole pan myself! The frosting is perfect with the pumpkin.
This makes me so happy! I’m so glad you loved these bars.