PUMPKIN BARS

Pumpkin just says Fall.  That's what Bob had to say when he was eating a pumpkin bar in the Community Room at Hillcrest Thrift Shop on Tuesday.  When he left to go back to "work", he said he would probably be back for seconds or thirds before he left.  He really liked them. I hope he did.  Since I was generally busy the whole 3 hours of my shift at the register, I don't know if he did or not.  All I know is when I went to get my dish to take home, there were only 3 bars left in the dish.  I left them.  Dana said she would like to take one home for later.  I encouraged her to take all three of them.

I wasn't sure what I was going to take, but like Bob said, it is fall and I wanted to take something with pumpkin.  I looked in several cookbooks before I settled on Lia Wilson's Quick Fixes with Mixes. I have made so many of her recipes, I will soon run out of options in it. Janice and I continue to look for it at estate sales every week, but so far we haven't been lucky.  I would loan her my copy, but I think I make something from it every week.  (That's why I said I will soon run out of recipes that sound good to me.)

This recipe doesn't use a cake mix though as so many of the recipes do. Instead, it uses two packages of instant oatmeal. 

PUMPKIN BARS

1/2       cup (1 stick) margarine, melted
1           cup packed light brown sugar
1           cup canned pumpkin
1-1/2    cups flour
1/2       teaspoon baking soda
2          (1-5/8 oz) cinnamon and spice flavor instant oatmeal packets (mine were not quite that large)
1/2       cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F if using a glass container). Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the margarine, sugar, and pumpkin; mixing well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, oatmeal, and pecans; stirring to blend.

Add to the pumpkin mixture, and mix thoroughly.

Spread evenly in baking dish. (Since the batter is fairly thick, it is much easier to accomplish this if you drop blobs of batter over the dish.

Then with a wet spatula, gently spread the blobs together to cover the bottom of the dish.)

Bake for 18 minutes. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center of the dish. If done, the toothpick will be clean.

Immediately pour glaze over the bars.

ORANGE GLAZE

1       cup powdered sugar (sifted)
3      tablespoons orange juice

In a small bowl, blend powdered sugar and juice until smooth. Set aside.

Cut into bars when cooled.