Pumpkin Confetti Soft & Chewy Bars

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to an LSU football game. It was my first game in Tiger Stadium since I graduated from there (years ago), and my alma mater has changed so much. The campus is the same size, but they seem to be tearing down buildings and building new ones left and right. When we were walking around, I had moments of nostalgia. Part of me misses the college days…the super late night study sessions with friends, random on-call nights (yeah, I was a party pooping RA) and of course, the LSU student section at football games.

Our seats were super high up, which totally made my knees buckle under me since I have a terrible fear of heights. I needed a good 10-15 minutes to get used to our seats, but once the game started, I had no problem jumping up during big plays and looking over the ledge to see the crowd below…haha! I also teared up like a wuss when the LSU Tiger Band played the alma mater during pregame, mostly because I still have regrets about quitting marching band after a year and heck, I just miss the college days! I mean, I love being an adult and all, but there will always be a piece of me that misses those wonderful college days. 🙂

Speaking of nostalgia, anything involving funfetti mix makes me think of my childhood. My mom made funfetti cookies and cupcakes all the time in our house! In fact, for my bachelorette, there was a fresh batch of funfetti cupcakes just waiting for me and my friends in the hotel room. While cakes from scratch are wonderful, there will always be a place in my heart (and stomach) for funfetti. I thought that I should combine pumpkin with funfetti, because everyone in my life knows how pumpkin obsessed I am. The moisture in the pumpkin helps them to come out so soft and chewy, and these bars are then topped with a pumpkin spice/sugar mixture that adds a little crunch to them. It’s a great, simple recipe to bake up this fall. 🙂

Pumpkin Confetti Soft & Chewy Bars
Source: an original

Ingredients:

• 1 box Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (divided)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Place an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch cake pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, pumpkin puree, eggs and 1 tsp. of the pumpkin pie spice together for about a minute, until no lumps in the cake mix remain.
3. Evenly spread the dough with your hands in the 9×13 inch cake pan (it’s helpful to dip your hands in a bowl of warm water to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands). In a small bowl, mix the granulated sugar and remaining 1 tsp. of pumpkin spice together. Sprinkle the pumpkin pie spiced sugar over the bar dough, and bake the bars for 15-18 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean.
4. Allow the bars to fully cool in the pan, slice into bars and serve.