Magnolia's Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Icing

Now, I know ya'all think of cupcakes when you think of Magnolia Bakery, at least I know my husband did when he brought home the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook from the library.  But I am a fickle baker.  And I don't really like cupcakes.  So, the first outing was the Zucchini Walnut Bread, which was delicious.  The second outing was these Pumpkin Bars.  Which most everyone loved...neighbors, friends, the guy who teaches my son violin...but not my husband (hates squash, be it zucchini or pumpkin).  So he gets to pick out the next experiment from the book...Blueberry Muffins (can you get any more pedestrian?)

But, as I said, this recipe rocked for those of us without squash aversions.  And so, I present to you:

Magnolia Bakery's Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Which is really more like cake than bars, but I digress.

Bar Ingredients:

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

1 1/4 canned pumpkin puree
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 c canola oil
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1/2 c coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese
3 Tb butter
3/4 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 c sifted confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour a 13 x 9 baking pan.

Sift together the first 5 ingredients, flour through salt, into a bowl.

In a mixer, beat the pumkin, sugar, oil and eggs about 3 minutes.  Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Mix in the toasted pecans.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for about a half an hour.  Remove from oven and let cool completely before icing.

To make the icing,  beat the cream cheese with the butter for about 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla and beat well.  Gradually add the sugar, and continue to beat until smooth and creamy.  Cover and refrigerate the icing  for 2-3 hours before using.