Christmas Baking

I love this time of year for many reasons, and one of those is Jill's Cookie Swap! We bring a small gift and 3 dozen cookies. Then we all get a few of each type of cookie that everyone else brought and leave with 3 dozen of an assortment of cookies. It's so fun and all the cookies are gorgeous! It's also a great way to learn other families' traditions and favorite recipes!

Today I'm bringing Pumpkin Bars! I'd never made them before, but Laurie suggested them when I was struggling for ideas that would excite me. You just can't bake something you're not excited about, you know? I found a recipe that sounded good (and that I had all the ingredients for) and voila!

My camera is broken...due to being dropped last weekend :( so I don't have any pictures, but here's the recipe!

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 12x18 half sheet pan. (I used a 9x13 and a 8x8. Who has a 12x18 half sheet pan? Seriously?)

In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the oil, eggs, sugar and pumpkin until well blended.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg; stir into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Spread evenly in pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in pre-heated oven until bars spring back when lightly touched. Cool before cutting into bars.

I plan to dust mine with powdered sugar using my sifter after cutting and arranging on a pretty plate.


Sidenote: This is really the type of post that makes posting with pictures fun! :(