Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

The days are getting shorter and the leaves are starting to fall from the trees... that can only mean one thing: it's PUMPKIN time! Saying that, though, I can have pumpkin year round, as it's my favorite food. If a dish on a menu says it has pumpkin in it, it's almost guaranteed that I'll order it. In fact, after seeing a couple customers go through my till with pumpkin ravioli and pumpkin falafel, I knew what I had to buy the next time I did my grocery shopping. Not only are pumpkins delicious in any form - soup, roasted, part of a dish or in a dessert - but they are absolutely adorable... so round, squatty and, well, orange. I have yet to pick out this year's pumpkin, but I will when we return from Colombia, and then it will sit on the short brick wall by the front door.

To keep my weekly baking resolution, today I baked Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars (recipe from allrecipes.com) - the first of numerous pumpkin desserts I plan to make over the next couple of months... I still have 7 cans of pumpkin left!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips*
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Mix in the pumpkin then beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cut into bars and serve warm or cooled.

*Jeff and I found this to be too much, believe it or not, so I'd recommend only doing a cup of chocolate chips, or even a cup and a half.

Ripe, juicy blackberries I picked in the rain this morning in a field near our house.