Pumpkin Bars With Chocolate Chips That Are Fudgy and Perfect for Fall Baking

Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips

Every fall I make a batch of these Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips, and every fall my family eats most of them before they have fully cooled. I am not sorry about it either.

These bars are fudgy like brownies, soft in the middle, and loaded with warm dark chocolate, and that is exactly the point.

this …

You may also see them called Pumpkin Blondies, which is a very good name for them, because the texture lands much closer to a blondie than to a fluffy slice of cake.

The recipe came from a post that was originally published on October 30, 2011, and it has been a fall favorite in my kitchen ever since. What I love most is how little fuss there is.

Everything gets mixed in one pot on the stove, so there is no stand mixer to drag out of the cupboard and no extra bowl to wash afterward.

You melt the butter, toast the spice right in it, then stir in the sugars, pumpkin, vanilla, salt, egg, flour, and chocolate chips. That is the whole job.

Melted butter is doing a lot of quiet work here. It gives the bars that soft, fudgy texture instead of a light, springy crumb, so each bite feels rich and almost as dense as a brownie.

Pumpkin brings moisture and a gentle sweetness, the spice brings that cozy fall flavor we all chase every October, and the chocolate chips melt into little pockets of dark chocolate.

I bring these to Halloween parties, potlucks, bake sales, and lazy Sunday dinners, and the plate comes home empty every single time. Cut them into small squares if you are feeding a crowd, because they are rich. If you eat too many and make yourself sick, it will be worth it.

You’ll love these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies!

The whole appeal here is speed. You mix, you pour, you bake, and you are done. No stand mixer and no separate mixing bowl are required, because all of the mixing happens in a pot on the stove.

The goal is a brownie texture rather than a cakey one, so these really are pumpkin brownies more than pumpkin cake. Think soft, chewy middle, slightly crisp edges, and chocolate in every single bite.

It is the kind of recipe you can start after dinner and still eat warm before bedtime.

Pumpkin Blondies Recipe Ingredients

Here is everything you need for one 9×13 inch pan, which makes 12 bars.

• 1 cup butter, which is 2 sticks
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Use canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, and measure out just 1 cup instead of dumping in the whole can. Complete instructions and further details are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

How to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Melted butter is the key to the chewy, fudgy texture here. Many cookie recipes ask you to cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and that step builds air into the dough, which is wonderful for cookies but not for what we want in these bars.

Melted butter skips all of that air and gives you a chewier, fudgier bite that lands much closer to a brownie than a cookie. So in a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and go from there. Salted butter works beautifully, and unsalted butter works just as well.

If you want to take the flavor up a notch, you can brown the butter first. Cook it over medium heat until it foams, turns a light brown color, and smells nutty, then carry on with the recipe.

That extra step adds a toasty flavor and makes the bars a bit browner and less orange, which some people really prefer. The recipe notes give the details if you want to try it.

Whether you simply melt the butter or take the time to brown it, add the pumpkin pie spice while the butter is still hot and bubbly, and let it toast for just a few seconds.

That little moment wakes up the spice, especially the cinnamon, and it is the difference between a bland bar and a deeply flavored one.

Then remove the pan from the heat and stir in the brown sugar and the white sugar, followed by the pumpkin puree.

If you do not have pumpkin pie spice on hand, the recipe notes give exact measurements so you can build your own blend. Stir together 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, and an optional 1/4 teaspoon allspice to stand in for the tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin acts like an egg

Brownies usually lean on several eggs, often four of them for a 9×13 inch pan, to get that chewy texture instead of a light and fluffy crumb. This recipe uses just 1 egg, and pumpkin is the reason it works.

Pumpkin behaves a lot like an egg when it bakes, which is exactly why pumpkin cookies so often turn out cakey and soft. Here, melted butter plus only 1 egg gives you very fudgy pumpkin bars instead.

Add the egg and stir vigorously right away so it does not curdle, and if your butter and sugar mixture is still very hot, wait a couple of minutes first.

After the egg, the vanilla, and the salt go in, add the flour and the baking powder. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it off rather than scooping straight from the bag, so you do not pack in too much.

Add the baking powder to the flour and stir it in with the teaspoon before you mix everything together. I tested a batch without baking powder once and it came out spongey rather than fudgy, so the version with baking powder won, hands down.

Stir just until most of the lumps are gone and do not overbeat. Just like brownies, overmixing gives you tough bars instead of tender ones.

Here is the part that trips people up. Do not stir the chocolate chips into the warm batter. The batter is warm from the melted butter, so the chips will melt right away and swirl into the whole thing.

Instead, pour the warm batter into the prepared pan and spread it to the edges. Then sprinkle the semisweet and dark chocolate chips over the top and gently fold them in with a spatula, right there in the pan.

That way you get distinct pockets of chocolate instead of one muddy swirl.

Mixing dark and semisweet chocolate is my favorite combination, because the dark chocolate keeps the bars from getting too sweet. Any chocolate works though, so use what you have in the pantry. White chocolate chips are a fun twist that I have not tried yet, and I have a feeling they would pair really nicely with pumpkin.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 to 30 minutes. The bars are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter on it.

Check a few different spots, because a smear of melted chocolate is not the same thing as raw batter. The edges should be pulling slightly away from the sides of the pan.

Then let them cool before you lift the parchment out and slice, or dig in while they are still hot, because I am not going to judge you.

For reference, one bar comes in around the following, based on 12 bars per pan.

How to store Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips

Leftovers keep beautifully on the counter in a tightly sealed container, and they stay good for about 2 to 3 days before they start to dry out. After that they get a little stale, so if you baked a big batch, think about freezing half of it right away.

You can refrigerate them if you prefer, though I think a chilled bar is best warmed for a few seconds in the microwave so the chocolate goes soft again.

They freeze well too. Once the bars are completely cooled, tuck them into a sealed ziplock bag or a tupperware container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them in the sealed bag on the counter.

This is a great way to get ahead on holiday baking, and honestly a warm bar straight from the microwave on a cold night is hard to beat.

More pumpkin desserts you should try out!

If you are in a full pumpkin mood, here are more desserts worth baking this season.

• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, which are basically the muffin version of these bars and easy enough for breakfast
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
• Pumpkin Butterscotch Molten Lava Cakes
• Easy Pumpkin Pie Cake
• Paul’s Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting, which are honestly a cake
• Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake
• Pumpkin Roll Recipe
• Easy Pumpkin Dump Cake
• Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake, a great pick for Thanksgiving

Also on the list are Easy Pumpkin Crispy Treats from Yummy Healthy Easy, Pecan Praline Pumpkin Cake from The View From Great Island, and Pumpkin Spice Meringue Pumpkins from 365 Days of Baking.

Start with the pumpkin bars, then work your way down the list all season long. That is my plan, and I have a feeling it will be yours too.

FAQs

Fudgy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars (Pumpkin Blondies)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips Every fall I make a batch of these Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips, and every fall my family eats most of them before they have fully cooled. I am not sorry about it either.

• Total Time: 40 min
• Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients
1 cup butter, 2 sticks
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 (8-oz) cup pumpkin, canned (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 teaspoons vanilla, I like Mexican vanilla
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Instructions
1-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 inch pan with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper. I like to line with paper so that I can lift the bars out later for easy slicing.
2-In a medium saucepan, melt 1 cup: In a medium saucepan, melt 1 cup of butter** over medium heat. I used salted butter, but unsalted works great too!
3-When the butter is still bubbly and: When the butter is still bubbly and hot, add in 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice* (see notes for other spices). Let the spices toast in the pan for just a few seconds, then remove the pan from heat.
4-Stir in 1 cup sugar and 1: Stir in 1 cup sugar and 1 cup packed brown sugar.
5-Add in 1 cup pumpkin puree from: Add in 1 cup pumpkin puree from a can. Don’t use the whole can! Don’t use pumpkin pie filling! (Use the rest of the can to make pumpkin cookies!)
6-Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon: Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.
7-Add 1 egg and stir vigorously right: Add 1 egg and stir vigorously right away so that it doesn’t curdle. If your butter/sugar mixture is still super hot, you might want to consider waiting a couple minutes to add the egg.
8-Add 2 cups flour, spooned and leveled,: Add 2 cups flour, spooned and leveled, but don’t stir yet. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the flour and use the teaspoon to stir it into the flour.
9-Stir in the flour until most of: Stir in the flour until most of the lumps are gone, but do not over beat. Just like brownies, you want to get all the ingredients incorporated, but you don’t want to mix it so much that you end up with tough pumpkin bars. See photos. Don’t add the chocolate chips yet.
10-Pour the batter into the prepared pan: Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread to the edges.
11-Sprinkle 1 cup semisweet and 1 cup: Sprinkle 1 cup semisweet and 1 cup dark chocolate chips over the top. Use your spatula to gently fold them in so that they are incorporated into the batter. (If you mix the chocolate chips into the warm batter, they will melt right away)
12-Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes: Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. They are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter on it.*** The edges should be pulling slightly from the sides of the pan.
13-Let cool*** before lifting the paper from: Let cool*** before lifting the paper from the pan and slicing. (or just dig in while they’re hot, I’m no judge.)
14-Keep leftover bars stored on the counter,: Keep leftover bars stored on the counter, tightly sealed. They will keep for 2-3 days before getting dried out.
15-These bars freeze well: These bars freeze well! Store in a sealed ziplock and freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the sealed bag on the counter.

• Prep Time: 10 min
• Cook Time: 30 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1bar
• Calories: 526kcal
• Sugar: 46g
• Fat: 26g
• Saturated Fat: 18g
• Carbohydrates: 68g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 5g
• Cholesterol: 57mg