Pumpkin Caramel Bars with Bacon

Pumpkins are on every doorstep.  The candy aisles are empty at all of the grocery stores.  Halloween is almost here!  Which is why I decided to make pumpkin bars for this week's post.  What makes these treats really scary?  They have crumbled, crispy, smokey, greasy bacon sprinkled on top!  It may sound bizarre, but the combination of the spicy pumpkin bars, sweet caramel frosting, and salty bacon actually work well together to form a delicious dessert!

I really enjoyed making this recipe, but just a warning: it isn't one of those treats you can whip up quickly.  There are a lot of elements, each of which takes time and careful moderation.  The bacon needs to be cooked first so it can cool by the time the bars and frosting are finished; the bars need to rest before they can be frosted; and the frosting takes at least 10 minutes with a stand mixer or hand mixer on high speed before it is cold and fluffy enough to spread over the bars.  I even placed the bowl of frosting in the refrigerator for about a half an hour to allow it to set a little more.

But the time and effort required for these pumpkin caramel bars are definitely worth it as soon as you take that first bite!  So don't be scared....try them out!

Pumpkin Bar Ingredients

Caramel Frosting Ingredients (water not pictured)

Pumpkin Bar Batter

Baked Pumpkin Bars (pre frosting)

Caramel Frosting

Pumpkin Bars with Caramel Frosting and Bacon

Pumpkin Bars (pre Emma's mouth)

Pumpkin Caramel Bars with Bacon
Bars:
8oz bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Caramel Frosting
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup water
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
4oz cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1.) Bars: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat a 9x13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Cook bacon in a saute pan over medium heat until crisp; drain on a paper towel lined plate and set aside.  Reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings.

2.) Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and table salt for the bars in a medium bowl, set aside.  Whisk together pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, egg, melted butter, bacon drippings and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.  Stir in flour mixture and pecans.

3.) Spread pumpkin batter evenly into prepared pan, bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Let cool completely before frosting.

4.) Frosting: Boil 2 cups brown sugar, water and a pinch of salt for the frosting in a large saucepan over high heat, 5 minutes, swirling occasionally to prevent scorching.  Whisk in cream and butter pieces. (Mixture will bubble furiously; keep whisking).  Boil 2 minutes more.

5.) Transfer caramel to the bowl of a stand mixer; whip on high speed until sides of bowl are cool to the touch and caramel is thick, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add cream cheese, one cube at a time, until frosting is smooth.

6.) Once bars are cooled, spread the caramel frosting evenly over the top, then sprinkle the bacon pieces over the frosting.

Sweet Potato Bread

Have you ever picked up something at the grocery store in the beginning of the week, planning to eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner over the next several days, but for some reason you never got around to it or completely forgot you even bought it?  That was the case for me this week with my sweet potatoes.  I bought them with every intention of popping them in the microwave then sprinkling them with cinnamon for a delicious side dish to one of my dinners throughout the week.  However, by the time Saturday rolled around, they were still in the thin plastic bag I put them in at the grocery store that previous Sunday, knot still tightly bound.  Just sitting there on my kitchen counter.

Sad, I know.  So to remedy this, I decided to use them in my recipe this week!  I'm glad it wasn't the ground turkey or chicken wings that I forgot about, or this week's recipe would have been pretty interesting, to say the least...

This bread is actually quite delicious.  I found it in a Cooking Light magazine, so it's also quite healthy.  The taste is very similar to that of carrot cake.  So if you're not a huge sweet potato fan, you have no excuse not to try this bread.  Well except if you're not a sweet potato fan AND you're not a carrot cake fan.  And if that's the case, you're just weird.  So I would definitely try this recipe if you're looking for a more healthy, vitamin enriched dessert with notes of warm spices combined with a light yet sweet icing.  You should also try it if you happen to have some extra sweet potatoes lying around!

Bread Ingredients

Icing Ingredients (Note: Lemon Extract is Missing)

Bread Batter (Note: It Tastes Much Better than it Looks!)

Icing

Baked Bread without Icing

Baked Bread with Icing

Sweet Potato Bread
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1/3 cup shredded peeled sweet potato (about 4oz)
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Icing
6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
Dash of salt

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray 9x5-inch metal loaf pan with baking spray.

2.) Bread: Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through cloves) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  Combine yogurt, sugar, oil and eggs.  Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.  Gradually fold in sweet potatoes and pecans.

3.) Scrape batter into the loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging.  Cool in pan 10 minutes.  Remove bread from pan; let cool completely on wire rack.

4.) Icing: Combine cream cheese and remaining ingredients in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until smooth. Spread icing evenly over bread.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Really can't go wrong with cupcakes.  Especially if they're chocolate.  Throw a little cream cheese in the middle and you've got a perfect grab-and-go treat to celebrate any occasion--small or big.

I like these cupcakes because they are extremely appealing to both the eye and the palate.  The dollop of cream cheese filling in the middle of the cake is pretty enough that you don't need to decorate the dessert with frosting, as you would with most cupcakes.  The flecks of chocolate in the cream cheese from the mini chocolate chips provide a nice color contrast and speckled design to the creamy white center.

The cream cheese filling also provides a slight savory flavor dichotomy compared to the sweetness of the surrounding chocolate cake.  The dense filling in the center pairs well with the airy cake on the outside.  Overall, the contrasting aspects of this dessert work well together to create a tasty treat for any cupcake lover!

Filling Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

Filling Mixture

Cupcake Mixture

Hollowed Out Close Up

Hollowed Out Not So Close

Filled with Cream Cheese Filling-Before Oven

Done!

Cut in Half

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Filling:
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1 large egg
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted, warm
1/2 cup whole milk

1.) Filling: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in medium bowl.  Add egg, sugar, salt and vanilla and beat until almost smooth.  Fold in chocolate chips

2.) Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners

3.) Whisk first 5 Ingredients in small bowl.

4.) Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in eggs, stir in vanilla and chocolate.  Beat on high speed for 5 seconds.  Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk.  Beat on high for 5 seconds.

5.) Divide batter among cups filling 1/3 full. Using tablespoon, hollow out center of each cupcake.  Place one heaping tablespoon of cream cheese filling in each center.

6.) Bake cupcakes until toothpick inserted into center (but not cream cheese filling) comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes in pan.  Remove from pan, cool completely on rack.