Pumpkin bars

Jarad Newcomb
Hour 2


Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup oil
4 eggs
4 cups pumpkin

Directions:
Mix all together
Pour into well greased and floured one 12 x 17 or two 9 x 13 pans 
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Check after 25 minutes.

Wait until cool then frost.

Frosting:
4 1/2 oz of cream cheese
3/4 stick of butter
1 1/2 Tbl milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 to 2 cups of powdered sugar

Direction:
Mix all together and frost bars

Preparation Method:
For the pumpkin bars - We have made this a lot of times and have mostly stuck to the recipe.  The only thing we changed is mix all of the dry ingredients together first and then we mixed the oil, eggs and pumpkin together in a separate bowl.  We then added all of the ingredients together until they were mixed thoroughly without lumps.   

For the frosting  - we found we wanted more frosting so we made 1 1/2 batches instead.  We beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla first.  We then added a little powdered sugar and a little milk gradually and alternated these until it was the thickness we desired.

Critique:
I really like these bars and we make them a lot because my family and friends really like them.  In my opinion these bars are in my top 3 favorite bars. They are very easy and quick to make.  It has a nice pumpkin and cinnamon aroma while it is baking and makes the house smell great.  You can't wait for it to cool so you can frost it and then eat it.  They are so moist and delicious.  The cream cheese frosting has a melt in your mouth texture.   These bars do not last a long time at our house.

Assessment:
The pumpkin bars is most like the muffin method because you mix all of the dry ingredients together and then in a separate bowl mix the liquid ingredients together.  Both the dry and the liquid ingredients are then mixed together.  The frosting is most like the creaming method.  You need to mix the fat and sugar together to produce small air bubbles so the frosting is more fluffy.