Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I’m in a funk today. I can’t really pinpoint exactly why, but I think it’s just a combination of a lot of little things. Needless to say, when I am in a mood like this … baking is my therapy. I couldn’t shake my funk today so I left work a little early and went to the grocery store. I bought some cranberries, pumpkin, brown sugar, and chocolate chips. I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for. But after I made some spaghetti squash for dinner tonight, I decided I was definitely in a pumpkin mood.

I did have two bright spots to my day today, that I feel I should call out so I’m not a total debbie downer. When I was younger my mom used to write me a doctors note to get me out of school so we could go to the mall and share a Cinnabon and Diet Coke. Those were the days. So today I got a package at work today from my mom … with a “doctors” note to go to the mall, a bracelet, and a CVS coupon. Then I got another package later in the day from one of my long-time friends from home who now works at Vineyard Vines. She sent me some VV pajama pants which I am rocking right now. So anyone else who wants to jump on this “send Becca gifts to work” bandwagon, feel free to get on that.

Back to the fall cookies. I’ve also been in the mood lately to cook bars instead of cookies. Probably because I’ve been a master of multi-tasking lately, and it’s much easier to multi-task with cookie bars instead of watching actual cookies bake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13×9 glass baking dish.

Step 2: Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add in pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture may look a little curdled but that’s normal.

Look at that tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. Pure fall right in a little heart measuring spoon.

Step 3: In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low speed, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Add in chocolate chips until mixed in.

Step 4: Spread batter out evenly in the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Be careful not to burn the edges. Once the bars cool, cut to serve. Or you can be like me, and cut into one right away. It definitely helped my day.

These are a really nice texture. Lighter than a cookie or crumb bar, but still denser than a cake. The pumpkin and chocolate flavor combo is really delicious. I think that I will have some happy coworkers for coworker cookie Wednesday. I was down in NC for  my friend Sarah’s wedding this weekend, and I was afraid at the backlash I might get again if I didnt bring cookies in on Monday … so I baked up some Snickerdoodles Sunday night after my flight landed, which I think the coworkers who came to the office on Columbus Day appreciated. But I think these pumpkin bars will be a nice unexpected hump day treat.