This dessert has been a customer and staff favorite ever since one of our sales associates created it a few years ago. The two key ingredients, pumpkin quick bread and spiced pumpkin butter, are only available during the fall, so stock up when you can!
Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
1 (1 lb. 2 oz.) package spiced pecan pumpkin quick bread mix
1 egg
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 13.5 oz. jar spiced pumpkin butter
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
15 oz. confectioners’ sugar
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.
To make the crust, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the quick bread mix, egg and melted butter and beat on low speed until the ingredients come together, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and spread out evenly. Press the crust down until it feels compact (using the back of a measuring cup can help).
Wash and dry the mixer bowl and beater.
To make the filling, in the mixer bowl, combine the cream cheese and pumpkin butter and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, vanilla, melted butter and cinnamon and beat until combined, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat well, about 2 minutes.
Spread the filling over the crust. Transfer to the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Do not overbake; the center should still be a little gooey. To test for doneness, gently shake the pan; you should see a slight jiggle in the center. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes, then cut into bars. Makes 16 bars.
Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen
19 comments
You people are crazy lol whys it matter who cooks from where or from what. #haters #cantseeyou #maryspumpkinbarsrock #traderjoes #homegrown #fromscratchfromthebox #ITDOESNTMATTER
#dontKnockItTillYouTryIt
I also had Mary’s pumpkin bars and they’re fantastic
I love Trader Joe’s
Everything is a matter of trial and error. What sets a good cook apart from a bad cook is the passion one has. One needs to experiment with ingredients that works for ones budget. Except for pasta, all my main courses are from scratch (born and grew up in Europe, so it comes natural.) And since I don’t bake much, I’ll take all the help I can. However, although I buy many W&S products, I do find them a bit expensive. I don’t fault anyone for going to Trader Joe’s. And what the heck, if it comes out OK and tastes good, who should care.
i totally agree that prefab mixes, spreads etc are not ingredients a “real” cook usually reaches for, and i too think it’s cheating (sort of) to cook this way. but i’m surprised at the shock/vitriol in the comment section – do you not realize that wms sonoma is a corporation?? sure, it’s a corporation built on the love of food and cooking, but they are trying to make money, dummies! of course their recipes are going to feature WS products whenever possible. if you want a from-scratch recipe, there are zillions of other sites. as far as subbing in less-costly ingredients from other brands, it’s a fact that trader joes carries a few things that are *exactly the same as WS products – frozen croissants are one example – it’s tough to know which products these are unless you know a WS employee, but the point is you won’t always sacrifice quality by buying on the cheap. (only sometimes! ha.)
Real cooks cook from scratch. Mixes are for children with Easy Bake ovens.
I made these Pumpkin Bars following the recipe exactly as written. They were absolutely horrible and I had to throw the entire pan in the trash. The crust, which is made from from the pumpkin spice bread mix, was so hard you couldn’t hardly cut through it. And the cream cheese/pumpkin butter filling was so sweet you couldn’t eat it. 15 oz. of confectioners sugar is way too much! I am not very happy that I spent the money to buy all of the ingredients only to throw it all away! Not a good recipe!!
I just bought the bread and the butter to make this recipe. They had it made at W & S and it was great. I hope I can make it and it tastes okay. I was planning on making it for Tday because it was sooo good….worried now 🙁
I ate these bars at William-Sonoma and they were great. I bought all the ingredients and made them and also THEY WERE GREAT!!!!!
I tried this recipe as is and they came out wonderful. My family inhaled the whole tray. They asked me to make it for Thanksgiving. I am going to try the Trader Joe pumpkin bread but I think the magic is in the pecan pumpkin butter!
Skip Trader Joe lesser quality for sure !
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I was all set to try this recipe, but I don’t like recipes that use ingredients that aren’t readily available at the local grocery stores. I really prefer cooking from scratch! I find your mixes are mixes are too expensive! A jar of pumpkin butter and a mix for pumpkin bread!!! YIKES!
Georgia, I understand that you don’t want to pay too much for the mixes as they are too expensive, what I do is go to Trader Joe’s and buy their pumpkin bread mix which is so good and always disappears in 1 or 2 days! Also Trader Joe’s sells pumpkin butter so you can try that as they don’t cost too much. I will try the recipe from Williams Sonoma using Trader Joe’s pumpkin mix and pumpkin butter and I am pretty sure it will turn out good.
I tried this recipe using the TraderJoe’s products and the pumpkin bars were amazingly good ! No need to spend the money on the overpriced items. You just need to get the products at Trader Joes’s at the right time of the year. They sell out quickly in the fall.
I hope it turns out terrible. Really? You’re on the Williams-Sonoma website and you’re promoting a product of a much lesser quality. Shame on you!
Really?! Wishing they turn out terrible? What is wrong with suggesting a more budget-friendly alternative? Many of us appreciate the above suggestions, but not your mean-spirited comment.
Absolutely NOTHING wrong with using products purchased elsewhere!! Not everyone can afford the overpriced items there.