The best pumpkin bars are those with walnuts and vanilla frosting. For a later date, these can also be frozen with or without the frosting.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 3 dozen |
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- ⅓ cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter and flour a 10×15 inch jellyroll pan.
- In a large bowl, cream together 3/4 cup butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the pumpkin. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir into the pumpkin mixture. Mix in walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1/3 cup butter, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually blend in sugar, then beat until smooth. Spread over cooled pumpkin bars. Cut into squares.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 200 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 29 g |
| Cholesterol | 38 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 160 mg |
| Sugars | 22 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made this recipe tonight: I thought the bars would turn out with the consistency of quick bread, instead they come out like a very moist sheet cake. The cake bars using a Jelly roll pan were about 1&1/2″ thick and have good flavor. the only difference I made in the recipe and what I did was because I used what I had 2 cups of pumpkin puree instead of canned and all spice instead of nutmeg, plus I forgot to add the chopped walnuts. This recipe is a keeper with-in 2 hours of baking my family was enjoying them. You know it is good when my son went back at least twice for more!
Pretty good. I baked them in two mini muffin tins. 24 total. I still have leftover batter. I took them to a party and they all were eaten!
Cut oil in half and substitute applesauce and you can also cut back on sugar with no drastic effects. I add 1 tsp. of ginger as well and also sometimes a tablespoon of granted orange rind. This gives an otherwise ordinary cake/bar a more interesting flavor. Usually do not add the orange zest if adding ginger…….enjoy
These were easy to make, baked up nicely and cut well. I would have liked it if they had a more pronounced pumpkin flavour. Thanks!
I had to try a bite before I frosted these and they are wonderful! They do not fall apart when cut and they flavor is very good. I did use half brown sugar, half white and tweaked the spices only a little after reading other reviews. I’m sure they’d be excellent just as the recipe is written. I truly appreciate the fact that the recipe was written using butter, not vegetable oil. I wish I could search Allrecipes to avoid ingredients like vegetable oil, which I no longer use. Thanks so much for a keeper!
Very good and moist. I did put in a larger pan (cookie sheet used for sheet cakes) and cooked about 22 minutes. I then put in the refrigerator and chilled before frosting. I doubled the frosting recipe and added in a little bit of maple syrup. I had a little bit of frosting left over for sugar cookies tomorrow 🙂 After frosting, I chilled again. They cut into bars nicely. I sprinkled nuts on top instead of putting in the mix and served them on a platter for a potluck. Very moist and yummy.
OMG, this is FAB-U-LOUS!!!!!! I added whole cranberries to this and frosted it with cream cheese frosting and YUMMMMMMMY! My kids and Husband LOVED it!
Everybody wanted the recipe
As other reviewers have said, this is a cake not a bar. It’s good and fairly moist, I liked the frosting, but it was nothing amazing. There are other pumpkin cake recipes on this site that I like better.
Amazingly awesome!!
These were excellant, will use this recipe again and again! I disagree with another reviewer, this makes the perfect amount of frosting. The frosting is pretty sweet so I would not want any more.
My rating really isn’t accurate since both batches of these bars were gone before I could get so much as a bite, but from what I hear, they’re wonderful! They were very easy to make and I didn’t change a thing!
This dessert is amazing! The only thing I did differently was put it in a 9 x 13 pan. It’s great!
Wow…YUMMY!! Like many other people have said, this recipe is more like a cake than a bar, however WHO CARES!…it’s DELICIOUS!! I followed the recipe as written with the exception of adding raisins instead of walnuts. This cake is SOOO MOIST. I will be making this again and again. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe! =)
I made these because of the picture on the front page of allrecipes.com page and it was absolutely easy and sooo darn tasty. The frosting is perfect (I thought it might be too thick) but after letting the cake cool to room temperature it spread on it perfectly to just the right amount. The cake itself is wonderful with that hint of cinnamon and nutmeg, I wouldn’t change a thing. Pefect to serve for your company!
Nice, moist bars. I used 1/2 butter, 1/2 applesauce. The cream cheese frosting goes very well. I opted to not use the nuts, but sprinkled dried cranberries on top.
The cake is delicious and moist. The icing was way too dry and sugary with only 3 ounces of cream cheese, so I kept adding cream cheese and butter until it was the right consistency and the right cream cheese taste.
These are very moist and delicious! However, I didn’t frost them with the cream cheese frosting. I took the advice of another reviewer and used a caramel frosting (Caramel Frosting II from AR). I also baked them in a 13×9 pan. I must have eaten half of them myself last night!
Definitely more of a cake than a bar, but it doesn’t matter; because it is DELICIOUS!!! I can’t say how many requests I got for this when I made it 3 years ago for Thanksgiving. I’ve been making it ever since!
been using this recipe for a couple years now.it is to die for!!! OK so it’s not a “bar” who cares!! it’s great and a hit with friends and family and the frosting is PERFECT!!! the bars come out so moist! it’s 5 stars and mouth watering!!!
Yes, the name is a bit misleading, as these are not bars, but cake. The only reason this matters is that these “bars” are best served like a sheet cake, on a plate, with a fork. I wouldn’t call these a grab-and-go type thing. Nonetheless, I was entirely pleased with these. While I do like pumpkin bars/cakes made with vegetable oil, I did appreciate that this was made with butter and the taste difference is noticeable and pleasant. I’m not a big fan of nutmeg, and the recipe seemed a little short on spice, so in addition to the cinnamon I substituted 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice for the 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. And, because I’m kind of tired of the same ol’ cream cheese frosting I made a caramel frosting instead, and sprinkled some crushed cinnamon cookies over the top. It was a great flavor combination, but this cake is so moist and flavorful it would be great with no frosting at all.