Life, Pumpkin Bars and Pancakes

What's been going on of late, you may ask? 

Well.......

I've been grabbing every moment of time I can to spend with my husband while he had some time off from his work out of state; I've spent time with my sweet, lovely step-daughter who is on summer break from what is to be her last year of grad school this coming Fall; and I've helped my own daughter prepare for her first year of college, thankfully nearby at the local community college! While all of this has been going on, as a family we've managed to get in a few day trips to visit relatives, walk a birdsong trail at a beautiful park, stop in at a few farm market stands (and cook up some yummy side dishes with the produce we bought), shop at a couple of thrift stores (Oooo, I found 2 great cookbooks that I've started to browse through!), take a few walks through the neighborhood and "forage" for edible, wild growing things that only my step-daughter seems to know ~ lol! Yes, it's been a busy week and a half to say the least! 

Now that things have slowed down considerably, I was finally able to find time to do some baking in the kitchen, and try out a couple of recipes from one of my new cookbooks. One recipe, which was the biggest hit with everyone else, was also my favorite. Pumpkin Bars. If you've never had them, you'll want to give this recipe a try! The entire tray lasted less than 1 day, and my daughter's friend, who had never had anything pumpkin, took one taste, and was completely hooked!

PUMPKIN BARS

1 c. vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 c. pumpkin

1 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

1 3/4 c. sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Pour onto a lightly greased cookie tray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick to determine when done. Pick should come out clean.

I used one of my favorite large, round cookie trays as the picture below shows.

This next picture shows how shallow the baking tray is, and it worked perfectly. The batter was spread evenly and only came up to about half, or a smidgen more, on the sides.

And you know what? This batter could easily have some chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, or even raisins tossed in, and it would make something great tasting taste even better! But this time, I just made a simple confectionery sugar frosting and spread it over the entire top of the bars before cutting them.

 As an afterthought, I decided to try the little bit of leftover batter as pumpkin pancakes the next morning. I stirred just a few chocolate chips into the batter and dropped it by small ladelfuls into a preheat, greased skillet. They took a bit longer to cook than regular pancake batter, but oh, they were so good, fluffy and really delicious!! Just keep the heat on medium, and flip after a check on the bottom shows it to be turning an even more golden color. I just spread them with butter and no maple syrup, and they tasted wonderful. You may prefer a bit of syrup on yours!

~ ♥ ~

Are you the sort of person that generally sticks to the recipe, or do you like to add your own touch to it?