Perfect Pumpkin Bars

 There is a place we have here in town that makes the best pumpkin bars. They are literal perfection. I decided I wanted to try to emulate the recipe but I'm not one of these cooks who can taste what's in a dish and make a copy cat off the top of my head. My husband, he's one of those lucky cooks, but I'm not. Lucky for me, the internet is a great source for everything, including copy cat recipes. I found one on Jodi's blog, Beacon of Hope and decided to give it a go.

You'll Need:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinammon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

For the Frosting:
1 package cream cheese softened (8 ounce)
1/2 cup of butter softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until incorporated. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until combined. Spread batter evenly into ungreased pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven. Cool before frosting.

To make the frosting cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla. Add confectioner's sugar a little at a time beating mixture until smooth. Spread evenly on to of cooled bars.

I usually like to add my own flare to a recipe but since I wanted to get as close to said famous pumpkin bars as I could I didn't add anything else. I'd love to recreate these with white chocolate, nuts and different variations of frosting! The end result was extremely similar to the pumpkin bars I was trying to emulate. The frosting was still slightly cream cheesier than the bakery ones, however these turned out delicious so no complaints from me!

I used my special Halloween spatula in the making of these bars and I'm convinced it made them taste that much more of holiday goodness.

If you end of making these bars in any variation, let me know I would love to hear how they turned out! Also if you have a good recipe for pumpkin bars, leave me the link! XO