FOOD NEWS
The Reason You Shouldn't Make Pumpkin Bars Using Just A Cake Recipe
By Jessica Fleming-Montoya
Pumpkin bars are a cake-like treat, often topped with cream cheese frosting and packed with pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin puree. They may resemble a cake, but they're not the same.
Still, many pumpkin bar recipes use a cake base, giving you pumpkin cake as opposed to a bar. Instead, tweak the recipe slightly to give you a less fluffy and more moist bar.
One easy adjustment is to reduce the number of eggs in the recipe. Eggs help make your final bake cakeier, so using fewer in the batter can help make your pumpkin bars more solid.
Another trick is to reduce the amount of baking powder or baking soda in the recipe. Like eggs, these ingredients serve as leavening agents and help your pumpkin bars fluff up.
You can also swap oil for butter for a better flavor, add maple syrup for additional moisture, or use a large, flat pan for thinner pumpkin bars.
Using pumpkin puree and dark brown sugar, rather than pumpkin pie filling and light brown sugar, allows you to adjust the recipe's sweetness, spices, and flavor profile.