When we lived in Spokane, one of my favorite places to grab coffee and a pastry was Rocket Bakery. At the time they were the only place in Spokane that served Caffe Vita and they always had a killer array of excellent pastries.
Pink cookies, bagels, all kinds of dough breads, and countless other items but nothing compared to my favorite, their pumpkin bars.
I remember one of those falls I just had to figure out how to make a decent pumpkin bar at home. I somehow found a recipe that was the way I wanted it, lightly sweet, full of pumpkin, slightly light and yet a bit dense and of course an iconic cream cheese icing.
Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1, 15 oz can pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 t soda
Beat sugar and oil, add eggs one at a time, then pumpkin. Mixed dry ingredients separately and then slowly incorporate into pumpkin mixture. Put in one of those classic rectangular cake pans after you sprayed and floured it.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a couple of hours.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
Optional – add juice and zest of two limes
Combine cream cheese and butter and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and add. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar and combine until fluffy again. If adding the zest, add it at end.
