Pumpkin Pie Bars -- The Oven at 375 and the Long Season Ahead

Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 11 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.

The recipe this week: beef barley soup. Standing at the stove, Marlene's wooden spoon in my hand (the cracked one, the one that will outlast us all), the recipe either from the card box or from my own expanding collection, both equally real, both equally mine. The kitchen holds all of it — the old recipes and the new ones, the teacher's food and the student's food, the grief and the joy and the cinnamon. All of it. Always.

The trees along the highway are turning — maples red, oaks gold, the Bradford pears doing their useless purple thing. Iowa falls are short and violent and beautiful. The kitchen shifts to slow mode: crockpots, Dutch ovens, the oven at 375 from September through April. The fall cooking is the cooking of a woman settling in for the long season.

After an afternoon watching the Bradford pears do their useless purple thing and the kitchen already smelling like something slow and savory, I wanted something sweet to round it out — something that honored that feeling of the oven clicking on and just… staying on. These pumpkin pie bars are what I reach for when fall arrives in full and I want the whole house to know it. They come together quickly, they feed a crowd, and they carry that same generous, all-of-it energy that the fall kitchen always asks of me.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 50 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 24 bars

Ingredients

• Crust & Topping:
• 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix, divided
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, divided
• 1 egg
• Filling:
• 1 can (29 oz) pure pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Streusel Topping:
• Reserved cake mix (from above)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
2. Make the crust. Set aside 1 cup of the cake mix for the streusel topping. Combine the remaining cake mix, 1/4 cup melted butter, and 1 egg in a bowl and mix until a soft dough forms. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Make the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, 2 eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt until smooth. Pour evenly over the crust.
4. Make the streusel. Combine the reserved 1 cup cake mix, 1/4 cup sugar, cold cubed butter, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to work it together until crumbly. Scatter evenly over the pumpkin filling.
5. Bake. Bake at 375°F for 45—50 minutes, until the center is just set and the streusel is golden. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with only moist crumbs.
6. Cool and serve. Let bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting into squares — at least 1 hour. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg