I like to make these pumpkin bars in the fall because they seem a bit more nutritious than normal cookies yet still taste delicious.  These soft pumpkin bars have just four tablespoons of butter and ¾ cups sugar–you’d need  two sticks of butter (16 TBS) and 1 ½ cups sugar for a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Plus, these contain a vegetable!  I’ve made them with different winter squashes and even carrots, with good results.

Pumpkin Bars

1 ¾ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ginger
4 TBS butter
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
¾ cups pumpkin puree (home-cooked or canned)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13″ pan.

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer.   Add the eggs, beat in the applesauce and pumpkin until well-mixed.  Add the dry ingredients and combine well. 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool and cut into squares.

To make this recipe relevant to the Green Baby Guide, I would like to note that if you puree your own pumpkin, little waste will be produced in the creation of this treat.  Also, babies will like them.