Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumkin Bars

oh my gosh - A party in my mouth.

I cannot believe how delish this is. I mean seriously decadent.

Amazing. And a complete surprise find.

I was on Pinterest today just browsing fall tablescapes and various fun "Fall" things because I am so ready for Autumn. And I found a beautiful little pumpkin that looked like this:

And a great colorful, super fun wreath that I'd hang on my door like this.... 

 And then I thought - gee I'd love to do something like this with my dining room table...

When I stumbled upon a recipe. I don't even know the link, because I printed it, and got so excited that I closed my window and couldn't get back to that link. Not to worry! A quick search of the net brought me to the original poster - Lauren's Latest  and her recipe.

Now, she's obviously a better picture taker than I am. And she's definitely got the credit for this yummy ooey gooey dessert. And I came right home and made one myself.

And I gotta say it again. PARTY in my mouth. Sooo good.

I only changed one thing - I made homemade caramel for this dessert - simply because I didn't want to run to the store and buy any, when I could make it right here. So I'll include the recipe I used for that - and then you can make it, or just buy it.

Adapted from: Lauren's Latest 

Cake Mix 

2 sticks butter, Softened

1 Cup packed brown sugar 

2 Eggs

1 tspn Vanilla 

1 Cup Pumpkin puree 

1 tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn nutmeg

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tspn baking soda 

1/4 tsp salt 

Filling

1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 batch Caramel Sauce (recipe next)

Caramel sauce 
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan; set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin puree until blended together. Slowly add cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, baking soda and salt.
Spread 2/3rds of the Cake batter in the greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts and chocolate chips over cake batter.

Make caramel sauce.
Heat 1 cup sugar over medium high heat until melted and turning caramel color. Please be CAREFUL. This stuff is HOT. Crazy hot. Like - end up in the hospital hot if you get it on your skin hot. Once the sugar starts to turn a pretty caramel color, add in the butter and wisk briskly, and quickly until the butter is melted and you have a soft caramel consistency. (See this website here for a great tutorial on Caramel Sauce) 

Once your butter is melted, remove from heat, and carefully, CAREFULLY stir in the 1/4 cup heavy cream. Your sugar mixture is going to let off a ton of steam and bubble up so watch your hands. Wisk quickly and briskly until all cream is incorporated.

Pour caramel sauce over chocolate chips and nuts in baking dish.

Dot remaining 1/3 cake batter over hot caramel and spread carefully. this does not have to be perfect. At all. It's ok if Caramel peeks thru in spots.

Bake in over 350 degrees for 25 minutes. My electric oven runs hot, so I only baked mine for 20 minutes.

Lastly - I used the remaining Heavy Cream from the pint I'd made to whip up some fabulous whipped cream to serve over my Bars. I also added a little pumpkin spice to the whipped cream.

And here you have it. Ooey, Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Bars which are TO DIE for... mmm sooo nice! :)

 

Playing along at these link Parties:

"Metamorphasis Mondays" 
Classy Clutter Saturday Spotlights
Home Stories A to Z
Growing up Gabel