italian dessert recipes

Pumpkin Bars

"One bite frosting optional snack"

pumpkin bars Coming up with a recipe for pumpkin bars was hurting my brain. I wanted to modify my grandma's recipe for pumpkin bread since I haven't goofed that once in twenty years. I was struggling for a way to modify it from a bread to a bar. I attempted my modification experiment once. And it turned out well, not *bad*, but definitely not worthy of being on my site. Then *POOF* I had a divine revelation! It was a vision! Alright, not exactly.

I was watching a Paula Deen video of her southern style pumpkin bars. (Not really my type cooking but she's great entertainment!) And during her video my brain flew into gear and our two worlds collided. Her Southern belle style and my Italian dessert recipes morphed - AND this is the final product!

The vote in my family is - frosting is optional. My kids thought it was too sweet and wiped it off. My step-kids were perfectly happy for the extra tonnage of sugar, butter and ricotta cheese! Take a vote in your family. Only frost half the batch!

The Italian spices are optional. If you don't want to use anise or allspice - then just swap out cinnamon instead. Check out all kind of substituion ideas listed below.

These pumpkin bars rise a little higher than I can open my mouth. I used a 9 x 11, so perhaps a larger pan next time.

If this wasn't the type of Italian cake you were looking for scroll down and see the full list of Italian cookie recipes I have on my site.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lisa



Pumpkin Bars

YIELD:1 Pan of Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

* 1 cup of white sugar

* 2/3 cup of brown sugar

* 1 can of pumpkin

* 1/2 cup of oil

* 1/2 cup of butter

* 3 eggs

* 2 cups of flour

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1/4 teaspoon anise (powdered) - (see substitutions below)

* 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

* 1/4 teaspoon allspice - (see substitutions below)

Frosting Ingredients:

* 1 stick of butter

* 8 ounces of ricotta (see substitution ideas below)

* 2 tsp vanilla

* 2 cups of powdered sugar

Procedure

 * Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

* Combine sugars, oil, pumpkin.

* Add eggs one at a time and beat.

* Make a well in the middle of the mixture.

* Sift the dry ingredients into the well.

* Blend all ingredients.

* Spread into a greased 9x11 pan.

* Bake for 30 minutes.



* Let the pumpkin bars cool and then frost with the ricotta cheese frosting.

* For frosting mix all ingredients together. See notes below for hints on working with ricotta. Too you can substitute cream cheese for the ricotta.





How do I swap the anise and allspice?

Just use cinnamon in their place. OR you can use 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon of ginger. Just make sure you come out with 2 teaspoons total.


What can I use in place of the ricotta?

Cream cheese would be fine. So would neufchatel. We just don't use it much in Italian dessert recipes - but it will work and taste just fine.

Is the ricotta too runny?

I drain mine for several hours before making the frosting. Then I squeeze it with a paper towel before I beat it with the other ingredients. Too, using ricotta will make a more softer and spreadable frosting than if you use neufatchel or cream cheese.


Is your frosting lumpy?

Did you remember to sift the powdered sugar? Gotta do that! Too, if you stuck with the original recipe and used ricotta - remember the texture of ricotta in the beginning isn't smooth. You will still see a bit of texture even after beating. Again, if this bugs you - swap it out for neufatchel or cream cheese.

Nuts or raisins?

You can add them if you want. I haven't done it with this pumpkin bar recipe. BUT my grandma's recipe for pumpkin bread has lots of nuts and raisins. And it's the recipe that I've never goofed!


Thank you for stopping by my Italian dessert recipes website. It's my passion, hobby - okay and I do make a little (truly, a little) money from this too.

Back to the top of the pumpkin bars.




lisa gianotti I love sugar and I eat dessert EVERYDAY! Ok, not MASSIVE amounts. But I do have to finish off the evening meal with a little sweet something.

When I was a kid my health conscience mother would ration my Halloween candy. Her mantra was, "white sugar will kill you". But my Italian grandma always told me, "Everybody needs a little bit of sugar." :-) So, to get my October Halloween sugar fix I will make the traditional Italian cookie recipe, Venetian Bones of the Dead. Italians make these for the Day of the Dead on November 2nd. So - hey, our holiday in America - Halloween is the closest.

So - while the neighborhood is slamming down a bunch of gross mass produced candy on October 31st, I'll have a real goodie. Oh yeah, I'll have to post it too! (Eventually!) You know how it is. Work. Kids. Clean. Cook.



I'll see if Bones Of The Dead is in my grandma's first recipe file she started when she married in 1932. Most of the recipes on my site came from her influence. If they aren't in her file - then I got them from her friends. And the remainder I experimented with adapting her style.

I hope she looks down and smiles this Halloween.

Lisa


Would you like to share this page? You know how to do it! Thanks for sharing the sugar love!



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Recipes on this site are from family cookbooks, family traditions, or intentional adaptations from traditional recipes to add an Italian flair. If a recipe was adapted or used from another cook - it is mentioned on the recipe page and the recipe author is given credit.