This is a classic Paula Deen recipe that is utterly amazing. I made these pumpkin bars last fall and loved them instantly. I recently made them again and decided to substitute applesauce for half the oil in a half-hearted attempt to lighten them up (since they still have plenty of sugar and eggs!). The result? They were still extremely moist and just as delicious as I remembered! The only difference was they baked up quite a bit higher this time. The first time with the full oil amount, they were a little bit more dense, but equally delicious. Although this is more a fall recipe than a summer recipe, I will definitely be making these again before “pumpkin season.” The cream cheese frosting is to die for and whether you substitute part applesauce or keep them true to the original, they are sure to please!
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup oil)
- 15-ounce can pumpkin
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.
- To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.
These look YUMMY!! My grandma used to make amazing pumpkin bars and I have yet to taste any that are close to what she made. I’ll have to try this one to see how they match up!
Yes, please! I’ll bookmark any Paula Deen recipe that’s been made calorifically sane.
“cream cheese frosting” and “to die for” are phrases that belong together for eternity. and the applesauce is definitely a great substitution. i don’t give a hoot what season it is–i’ll eat these and i’ll eat ‘em good.
I’m with Grace – I don’t care what time of year it is – send some over my way!!
Delicious! The entire thing is yummy but love, love, love the frosting.
Mrs V – well, thank you! I’m curious to know if you used the applesauce in the pumpkin bars or the oil (or both). You’ll have to let me know. Thanks for commenting!
These look delicious – will have to give these a try – perhaps for the Cricket Tea Ive got to prepare next month for my Husband!
WE made this several times over the past few weeks. SO yummy. We have your site bookmarked and love to try your recipes!!!Mrs v
Those pumpkin bars sound good.
WOW those look good! The bar itself has such an amazingly smooth looking consistency and that frosting…mmmmm…..
I love Paula Deen! She is so much fun & her recipes are great. However, they are not always that great for you so your substitution is greatly appreciated. I’ll make sure to use applesauce in the future. I made these for Thanksgiving & everyone loved them. Using the original recipe I had to bake for an extra 10 minutes. The cream cheese frosting is the best frosting I’ve ever had!
Danielle – true, true. Paula Deen’s recipes can be hard on the waistline but I’m a sucker for those cause they taste so great. I’m glad you liked these!
Yum! I love anything pumpkin, and these are no exception! They look divine!
These were delicious! I made them, replacing half the oil with applesauce and using neufchatel in the frosting. The second time I went even further and replaced 2 eggs with egg substitute, used splenda sugar blend in place of part of the sugar and instead of frosting, added 1/2 c. or so of dark chocolate ghirardelli chips. The pumpkin flavor really shone through without the frosting to compete, and they were still incredibly moist and rich tasting. Great served warm with a dollop of light whipped cream.
Lindy – LOVE all of your substitutions. You are a culinary genius! Seriously amazing. Thanks for the comment.
I made these for my bible study group and everyone loved them. Even my extremely picky eater Pastor said that they were great. Thanks for the recipe. Definitely a keeper.
Charity – ok, if the Pastor liked them, they must be worth making, in my opinion! Glad they worked out. Thanks for letting me know.
AMAZING!
These got rave reviews from everyone who ate them. I sent half to work with my husband and I took the other half and everybody loved them. So moist and the icing is perfect. I’ll be posting about them on my blog soon. 
Megan – I’ll have to check out your post when it comes up but in the meantime, I’m glad you and your husband (and fellow coworkers) liked these! Thanks for letting me know.
WOW WOW WOW!!!!! I made this for my family this weekend, we are all gonna have to go for a jog or two now but this was the BEST!!!! Thanks for posting!!!!!!
Deb. S. – I smiled at your “jog” comment. That’s probably very true, but at least the taste was worth the calories, right?? Thanks for letting me know you liked these!
Those look delicious! I have all the ingredients so will make them tomorrow. I love pumpkin anything!
These were THE BEST. We had several friends over for dinner the other night so I served these for dessert. Everyone asked for the recipe! -Liz K.
Hey Liz – so glad you liked these!! Thanks for letting me know.
Hi Melanie, would these hold well if I made them the day before serving?
Thank you.
Anonymous – yes, I think these would be ok to make the day before because they are so moist. Just keep them well covered and I wouldn’t make them any further in advance than a day before. Good luck!
Hi Melanie,
Do I take the cake out of the baking pan before cutting into the bars and frosting?
Have a wonderful holiday!
Anonymous – I do not take the cake out of the pan before frosting. I frost and then cut into squares. Hope that helps!
I did the same, thanks so much…they are delish!! Even though I tried to smooth the batter before baking, it still came out uneven and lumpy though..oh well it’s still delish.
MMMMmmmmmm! I saw these and immediately had to go make them! I did substitute 1/2 C applesauce for 2 eggs, 1/2 C applesauce for 1/2 C oil and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice for 1 tsp. cinnamon.
So heavenly! Thanks to you and to my beloved Paula Deen!
Anonymous – glad you liked these evne though they were bit lumpy!
Jessica – your adaptations sound awesome! Way to go on healthifying the recipe…I love it.
Lisa – thanks for your comment…it was so nice! I have loved reading the comments of those who have subbed applesauce. I’m so glad they turn out well!
I made these yesterday for a family party. They reminded me of the yummy pumpkin roll (Lion House) recipe I’ve used—only WAY easier. Loved them, and so did everyone else. So moist. The frosting is divine and so thick… yum! I didn’t dare try the applesauce substitution since it was the first time making this… maybe next time. I LOVE your website. I’m making Basil Chicken with Coconut Curry Sauce for dinner tonight. Yum!!
joyce – glad you liked the flavor and moistness of these bars! Thanks for letting me know. I hope you like the other recipes you try!
These are heaven. Pure heaven.
Thanks, Liz! Mostly, I’m glad for your comment to remind me I need to update the picture on this post!
Have you ever doubled the recipe and put in a 15×10 jelly roll pan? Did they rise too much? I would like to double for a large function, please let me know if you have and how they turned out. Thanks! And I love your site…I have been spreading the word about all your awesome recipes! Thank You for sharing!
Aubrei – No, I haven’t doubled it like that but I think it would be too much batter for a 15X10 pan since the original recipe uses a 13X10 pan. However, I’m wondering if you could double it and spread it in a large sheet pan (11X17) size. I’m guessing you still might have extra batter but maybe you could make a smaller pan, too. Sorry I don’t have actual results but I definitely think it’s worth a try!
Thanks, Mel. I made it in a 15×10 and scooped out batter for 16 cupcakes- it worked great! I also substituted applesauce for a first, and loved the results! Thank You!
Aubrei – thanks for checking back on this recipe. Glad it worked out!
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!! My husband and I had to cut ourselves off after we ate 1/2 of the pan in one hour!!! Thanks!!
Ren – glad you loved these bars and way to go on having self-control. I’m sure I would have just gone for it and eaten the entire pan!
I made this today. I also subbed applesauce for some of the eggs and the fat and I used 1 cup white whole wheat flour and 1 cup unbleached flour. I added about 1/3 cup of milled flax seed and a couple tablespoons of milk because it was pretty thick. I used half the batter to make a small bundt cake and the other half for muffins. My guests thoroughtly enjoyed it served with a warm maple cream sauce and the cream chees frosting.
Kelly – thanks for including your changes! It sounds absolutely divine with the maple cream sauce.
How do I print without 14 pages printing? I did not see a printable version for this…please help.
Hi Kari – not all my recipes have printable links yet but I’ve added a printable option to this recipe so you can easily print it out.
just made this last weekend and used 1/2 cup applesauce . it was absolutely fabulous! will be making this again for thanksgiving.
Thanks, Heather!
[...] to use than one that I found on the What Megan’s Making blog, which she in turn read about on the My Kitchen Cafe blog. I do not normally scour Paula Deen recipes, but if two bloggers felt it was good enough to [...]
We had a whole dinner of recipes from this site..the lasagna, the rolls and this for dessert! Super yummy, I love how the frosting just melts in your mouth. I will ne making these often
I made these yesterday. I doubled the recipe, then realized I was missing one of my sheet pans so I used a 9×13 glass baking dish for the other half. The non-sheet cake took longer to cook (about 5 minutes more), and I preferred the sheet one because of the better cake to frosting ratio, but both turned out beautifully and we ate them up without stopping. thanks!
[...] Tuesday – Preschool Cookout – taking pumpkin bars [...]
Yum, these were so good! I used the half applesauce/half oil method and it was super moist. I also used a 13×9 pan and it was more like pumpkin cake than pumpkin bars, but fine with me. Next time I’d use half white whole wheat flour and use pumpkin pie spice instead of just cinnamon to up the spice factor. Thanks Mel!
This recipe has been around for years. My mom made this exact recipe when I was a child so I wouldn’t classify it as a classic Paula Deen recipe. It’s been around long before Paula Deen was cooking. It is YUMMY and my husband’s favorite dessert. I use 2 cups fresh pumpkin that I freeze to make year round.
yummy!…thanks for sharing this recipe!
Love this recipe! I subsitute all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. I also used natural sugar. 1/2 applesauce, 1/2 grapeseed oil. Used a dash of nutmeg and a dash more cinnamon since i love cinnamon. I sprinkled powdered sugar ontop since I didnt use frosty. AMAZING! Sooo moist and fluffy add a scoop of non fat vanilla ice cream and you are in heaven!
I made these as-is, and when I tried them, they were okay, but I missed the spiciness of the other spices traditionally used in pumpkin desserts. So, I added some pre-mixed pumpkin pie spices on top of the icing. They look so pretty that way and gave it the flavor I was missing!
Hi! These were great! I added maple syrup (just a little) to the icing and sprinkled walnuts on top. I also substituted wheat flour for white flour and I used the applesauce substitution.
SO delicious to kill time while we’re stranded in the house for Hurricane Sandy.
When I found this recipe, I had forgotten that I was out of flour….so I took a regular yellow cake mix, made it according to the box, added 6oz of applesauce and used 1lb of fresh pumpkin. After mixing all of that, I added the cinnamon as well as a little nutmeg to the mixture. After baking, I topped it with the icing from this recipe and it was delicious!!! Not as time consuming either….My fiance made a special request to have this as his birthday cake today. Thanks for the inspiration/recipe
Have you ever baked this on a cookie sheet before? What would the cooking time be?
Would you double the recipe or just have thinner bars?
Holly – I’ve never baked them that way. I suppose you would just decrease baking time by a few minutes (watch carefully). And yes, they will be thinner bars if the batter is being put on a larger pan. If you double the recipe, make sure the pan is large enough they won’t overflow in the oven (since they are pretty thick bars in a 9X13 pan).
Love these bars! This recipe is so simple and easy to pull together and the results is delicious. Also they cut up beautifully and serve nicely, I brought to a work potluck and they were a hit.