As you might recall, I am bakin’/cookin’ my way through 10 recipes from Sweet & Simple (and then giving away a copy to one of you ) as a part of The Real Farmwives of America & Friends’ In the Kitchen with Gooseberry Patch project.

So, it was only natural that when I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Squares by a fellow Hoosier, I had to give it a try.

This baby is the 6th of my 10 recipes… in case you are counting down to the giveaway

You start out with 4 eggs and beat them up… go on, take out your frustrations, no one will tell.

Then 1 can of Pumpkin

Now we lightened this up a bit.

The recipe called for 1 2/3 cup sugar, so I added 1 cup sugar and 2/3 Splenda.

When making substitutions, I find the frankensnack-free zone is typically at substituting half or less… just sayin’

If you don’t like Splenda, just use the full 1 2/3 cup sugar.

Next up the recipe calls for 1 cup of oil.

I love the texture of breads/bars made with applesauce and the fact that it cuts the fat, so I substituted 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce since this was my first time backing these squares.

Next time– and oh there WILL be a next time– I will likely substitute the full cup of oil for a cup of applesauce because it held up very nicely and was very moist– yum!

Then I added in 2 cups of my new favorite flour.

Then 1 1/2 t Cinnamon

2 t Baking Soda

2 t Baking Powder

1/2 t Salt

Now mix that all up in your mixer…

And, pour it into a 10 x15 pan or grab your favorite square bar pans, spray them up and divvy it out.

Truth be told, I loved my Wilton Bar Pan (I got at walmart) so well, I recently purchased a Calphalon Bar Pan to go along with it.

The Wilton pan is deeper and perfect for breads and large portions of brownies and bars. Most 9 x 13 recipes fit nicely in this pan– dividing them into 12 portions

The Calphalon pan is about half as deep and perfect for uber-rich treats that you’d like smaller portions of… or in this case to serve as an additional pan to divide things up…

NOTE: For this recipe, I used half as much batter in my deep pan as usual so that all my squares came out the same size.

Bake at 250 degrees for 50-60 minutes if you are using a 10x 15 pan or 30-40 minutes if you are using bar/muffin pans.

Pop them out to cool and then you have some decisions to make…

Now I prefer to just slice mine up…

And add a little cream cheese…

Perfection.

Now, the recipe calls for a yummy cream cheese icing (see recipe below).

It reminded me a lot of my mom’s Zucchini Bars, so I topped with some walnuts.

Miss Add opted for yellow sprinkles and chocolate chips.

I grabbed up half of these GOODEies and bagged them for the freezer. It is nice to be able to enjoy these treats later in the month and it is a lot better on our waistlines than having tons of sweets out on the counter all week long.