Pumpkin Squares for Thanksgiving

Pumpkin squares

We made pumpkin squares to serve for our third Thanksgiving dinner of the weekend. Pumpkin pie is so boring! Although, as a short cut, we did opt to use canned pumpkin pie filling since it already had many of the spices that the recipe called for.

batter for pumpkin squares

This is a Paula Deen recipe, which I count as foolproof as Martha Stewart.

Pumpkin squares

The original recipe asks for pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice, but like I said, we used pumpkin pie filling. This may or may not have affected the texture of the cake because it turned out to be super dense and moist. We got lots of comments that the middle of the cake was ‘mooncake like,’ which I loved so win-win!

Pumpkin squares

We topped off each square with a giant dollop of cream cheese icing.

Pumpkin Squares
adapted slightly from Becoming Betty; original recipe by Paula Deen
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

For a thick cake-like bar: Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Test the center with a toothpick to check for doneness. For a thinner bar: Spread batter into a greased jelly roll pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick.

Pumpkin squares