Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
Rich, dense and gooey pumpkin bars with chocolate chips are a sweet fall treat. They are a great make-ahead dessert for potlucks and parties or you can freeze them to enjoy later. If you love fall flavors then these dessert bars are for you.
I love chocolate chip cookies and anything made with pumpkin so combining the two into a sweet dessert bar sounds very good to me. So, when I saw pumpkin chocolate chip bars on Handle the Heat I knew I had to try them.
What I love best about these pumpkin bars are how dense, rich and gooey they are. A few pumpkin bars I’ve tried before these were just too cakey, but this version doesn’t have a rising agent so they have a great texture. I also really love the melted chocolate chips inside the bars.
These pumpkin bars are sweet enough on their own, so I didn’t add any frosting (plus, my family’s not into frosting anyway) but if you want to frost them I recommend a cream cheese frosting or chocolate frosting.
Tips for Making Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars
This recipe is easy to make, but here are a few tips for making the bars:
- Line your pan with enough parchment paper so that it hangs over the edges of the pan. Once the bars are baked it makes it really easy to lift them out in one piece before you slice them.
- Use two bowls to make these pumpkin bars: one to combine the dry ingredients and another one to mix the wet ingredients. This will make it easier to combine the two without overmixing the batter, which will ensure your bars have the right texture.
- Cool the bars completely before removing them from the pan. They will slice a lot cleaner when they are completely cool.
- I actually think the bars taste better the next day after the pumpkin flavor has had time to develop. So, these are definitely a great make-ahead dessert for potlucks or parties.
How to Store Pumpkin Bars
- The bars will keep well at room temperature for a day or so. Just be sure to cover them with plastic wrap.
- You can also keep the bars in the refrigerator for up to three days. Store them in an airtight container.
- You can also freeze pumpkin bars. Wrap them tightly and place them in an airtight container. They will keep well for up to two months. To thaw, transfer them to the refrigerator or leave them out at room temperature for several hours.
More Dessert Ideas
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
- Triple Threat Cookie Bars
- Easy Apple Brownies
- Pumpkin Pie Mug Cake
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ? tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 (15-oz) can pumpkin puree
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper that is large enough to have an overhang that you can use to pull the bars out the pan once they’re baked.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt until evenly combined. In a separate large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin until smooth and completely combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones stirring until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake the bars for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the bars completely in the pan before slicing and serving.
Hello from Greece.
This seems very nice and i have all the ingredients ready and waiting!
But there is something i don’t understand. In what form should the butter be?
Melted? or in room temperature?
Thank you
melted
Looks gorgeous! But you said the recipe omits the egg, and the recipe you linked to calls for one egg. Did you leave the egg out altogether despite what the recipe says? (I’m vegan so will be omitting the egg but am trying to figure out whether to use an egg substitute or not.)
Thanks!
I’m so sorry. I confused this recipe with another one I tried out the same day that didn’t have an egg and was also a pumpkin recipe. This one was missing baking powder, not egg. But I think you can try it without the egg because the other pumpkin recipe I made didn’t have an egg and it worked well.
they look yummy!
they are!
Ooooh, this looks so incredible. Bookmarking for sure. Thanks for posting!
I really liked them!