Pumpkin spice bars with a brown sugarcane glaze

In case you haven't noticed, here in the good ol' U.S. of A. it's fall.  And in case you are completely oblivious to this season,  FALL GOES ON PUMPKIN OVERDRIVE.  Oh yeah, pumpkin candles, pumpkin cookies, even pumpkin soap! Gosh!  So with this gourd-overload, it's no surprise that my family asked me to make something, anything, pumpkin the other night.  But here's the prob, peeps: I, Kate of the Polka Dot Sockers, do not like pumpkin.  I know, you are aghast at this atrocity of autumn. (Okay, so I got a little carried away with the alliterations there).  So I set to work devising my own pumpkin recipe that I actually do like, and I think you would be happy with the results.  Here's what I came up with:

It's pretty simple ingredients, and it makes for a very moist, gooey, cake bar.  Alright, so the recipe is at the bottom of this page, but I just wanted to point out a few things that are important.  For example, When you take the cake out the oven, poke holes all over the surface.  This allows the glaze to seep into the bars.

Also, I don't really have an exact measurement for the glaze.  I just took about a cup of brown sugar and a little butter and melted them together in the microwave.  You should only put enough butter to start the sugar melting.  After poking the holes and making a glaze, pour it over the cake.

Then just cut it up and serve! This was a HUGE hit with my family, and I will definitely be bringing it to Thanksgiving dinner.

Pumpkin Spice Bars & Brown Sugar Glazing

1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup (half a stick) butter

2 eggs (1/2 cup of eggbeaters) 

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup canned pumpkin pie filling

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Melt butter and sugar together in a mug.  Stir with mixer.  Add eggs, vanilla, pumpkin, and spices.  Mix until combined.  

Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.  

Spoon batter into a 9-inch cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.  

Make a glaze by melting together a cup of brown sugar and 1 tbl. of butter.  Pour over cake with holes poked in the top.  Cut into squares and serve.

If you are in the U.S., have a happy Thanksgiving!

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