Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Chips
Deliciously pumpkin with hints of chocolate and with a perfect moist, thick texture these pumpkin blondies with chocolate chips scream fall!
These bars. Oh, these bars. They are the culmination of everything I need this fall to make my life complete. Hm, ok, let me rephrase, not everything (I’d take a house, 18 more hours in the day and a million dollars), but a good chunk, that’s for sure.
Basically what you have here is a denser, slightly more decadent form of the almighty pumpkin bar sans frosting but with a healthy dose of chocolate chips.
If we are talking comparisons, these bars might also resemble a really fabulous pumpkin chocolate chip muffin in bar form with a bit less fluffiness. Or how about taking a classic blondie, ripping it apart, adding pumpkin and a whole slew of spices along with a complete texture change, and yep, you have these pumpkin blondies.
Yeah, so basically, these bars are an entity unto themselves. Deliciously pumpkin with hints of chocolate and with a perfect moist, thick texture.
Enough with descriptions. Just make them! Hopefully they’ll make your life complete, too.
One Year Ago: Spooky Eats: Monster Pudding Cups
Two Years Ago: Classic Marinara Sauce
Three Years Ago: Blue Cheese and Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes
Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups (331 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (see note)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (113 g) unsweetened applesauce
- ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (159 g) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 (15-ounce) can (425 g) pumpkin puree
- 2 cups (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup pecans; roughly chopped, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9X13-inch pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on each long side so the bars can be easily pulled out of the pan once they are done baking and cooling.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter, applesauce, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix until combined. Don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled – that’s completely fine!
- Mix in the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans (if using).
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before lifting the bars out of the pan, cutting into squares and serving.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from My Baking Addiction, originally from Martha Stewart
These were delicious but pretty cakey…any ideas as to why? I will still make them again because they were simple and very flavorful! I love making bars and brownies when I need to feed a crowd.
Sometimes over mixing can make the texture cakey – or too much flour (you might try dialing the flour back a bit next time).
These were so yummy!
I made 1/2 recipe in an 8×8 pan and subbed white chocolate chunks (King Arthur Flour Barry Callebaut White Chocolate Chunks – yum!) and dried cranberries for the chocolate and pecans. Very good, although if I make them again with white chocolate and cranberry, I’ll back off both sugars … maybe 1/4 cup each. These were a bit sweet to me but they didn’t have the chocolate and nuts to balance the sugar.
My oven usually requires the longer time – they were done in 40 minutes.
Thanks for the feedback (as always), Liz!
I froze and then cut these … they are even better this morning and although I’ll still probably reduce sugar for white choc/cranberry … they do not seem as super-sweet after a night in the freezer. I’m not a white chocolate fan particularly, just thought it sounded good, but I also plan to make the choc chip/pecan version.
Great pumpkin recipe!
These Blondies are so good, I actually make them with white chocolate chips instead of the semisweet chips and I’ve managed to get them down to having just under 1/2 cup of each of the sugars. Please, Mel, try them with the white chocolate, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 🙂 I’m not a white.chocolate.person, but, here it really works.
Oh my, these are amazing! I had to freeze half the pan to keep myself from polishing it all off. So so good!!!
Just made these for a potluck and they were top notch. Still found them deliciously dense and cakey with the applesauce. Thanks for the pumpkin pie spice note – I only had a tsp of the pre-made stuff so topped up with my own. (These are the little details I appreciate about your recipes.) I just started using your site a few months ago, Mel, and every recipe has been a winner. I think I’m methodically working my way through all of your pumpkin recipes (this is my fourth!). Thank you for your wonderful recipes and blog!
does this recipe double well? ( … to go in a large 12.5×17.5 cookie sheet?)
That should work just fine.
Do you think I could use some white whole wheat flour in these? I have an abundance that I need to start using!
Sure!
These bars are so unbelievably delicious. The only change I made was to use organic canola oil for the 1 stick of butter, to try to cut down the saturated fat a bit more. I just used a big bowl and a spatula–easy! These were so moist and so fluffy with the applesauce and pumpkin. I was surprised how high they rose in my pan. I cut them into 15 squares because I have two teenage boys and these types of treats go in their lunch bags. But Saturday I am going to make 24 of them to take to our first crew team regatta. I am sure they will be the first to disappear. I just might make these all fall! Thanks, Mel.
These bars are so good! I have made them both ways (1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup applesauce and also just 1 cup butter with no applesauce). I liked both versions but prefer the applesauce and butter combo. Definitely more cakey and less dense then the all butter version. I also thought I would mention that these freeze well. I just slice them up, wrap individually in plastic wrap, and freeze. Pop them in the microwave for a few seconds and they are all warm and melty again. So good! Thank you for the recipe, Mel! I have tried quite a few of your recipes so far and this is one of my favorites.