Gooey Pumpkin Spice Bars
Brown butter pumpkin spice bars made with pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree, topped with cream cheese buttercream.
Servings 16
Equipment
- square metal pan 8" or 9"
Ingredients
Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Bars
- 1 cup butter 183g
- 1 cup brown sugar 210g
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 large egg plus 1 yolk
- ½ cup pumpkin puree 125g
- 1 ⅔ cups all purpose flour 222g
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ brick cream cheese softened (4 oz)
- 1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar organic
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Caramel sauce to swirl in the top (if you want to make it yourself, search my site for ‘caramel’)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line and grease a square metal 8 or 9” pan with parchment paper.
- Brown the butter: In a saucepan, melt the butter then turn the heat to medium high and cook the butter as it spits and sputters, foams and then ‘browns’: you’ll see brown bits at the bottom of the pan, the butter will go mostly quiet and you’ll smell a nuttiness.
- Immediately pour the butter into a heatproof bowl, making sure to scrape the little brown bits into the bowl (that’s where the flavor is!!). Add the sugar, salt, vanilla and pumpkin spice and whisk for a few minutes, until it’s glossy.
- Add the egg and yolk and whisk aggressively for a few minutes until smooth.
- Whisk in the pumpkin puree, sour cream and flour. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until a cake tester comes out mostly clean. Let cool completely.
- For the buttercream: the cream cheese should be very soft. Use the back of a rubber spatula to press it into a bowl and smooth out any lumps. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Spread over cooled bars. Add a couple of dollops of caramel and swirl it into the buttercream.