Freezer-Friendly Pumpkin Bars
For as long as I can remember, this church cookbook recipe has been a family favorite during the fall months.
In fact, we like them so much that these delicately flavored sweet-but-not-too-rich bars have been a welcome addition to our Thanksgiving (and Christmas) dessert table on more than one occasion!
They capture some of my favorite tastes and smells of the season.
Since these pumpkin bars are easy to make and the recipe makes a huge pan, they are perfect for serving to company or bringing to a harvest party.
They also freeze beautifully (and thaw extremely quickly!), staying incredibly moist without getting soggy.
I have made these several times in the past month, and have gotten rave reviews and recipe requests everywhere I’ve taken them!
Pumpkin Bars
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups pumpkin (15-ounce can)
- 1 cup oil
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I use ½ teaspoon each ginger and cloves and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg instead)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup chopped nuts, optional (we never used)
Frosting
- 4 Tablespoons softened butter
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon or less milk, if needed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together first four ingredients with an electric mixer until well blended. Add next 5 ingredients and mix well. Stir in nuts (optional).
Pour into greased pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until done.
Beat frosting ingredients together and spread over cooled cake.
Makes one 11×16 pan (jelly roll pan)
Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy (ages 6, 4, and 2). She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.
Subscribe for free email updates from Money Saving Mom® and get my Guide to Freezer Cooking for free!
38 Comments
-
Okay, I don’t freeze food much. Freeze with icing or before icing the pumpkin bars and make the icing fresh?
-
Char says:
I always ice the bars and then freeze. The icing tastes just as fresh as the bars themselves after being frozen.
-
-
I made pumpkin bars this morning and my recipe is pretty much the same one! Only mine calls for chocolate chips. We love this recipe and I’m sure it would be just as delicious without the chocolate chips too, but we love the chocolate in it!
-
Melanie says:
Love this recipe! I think the recipe on the bottom of the page was missing the sugar? I had to compare it to a different recipe to make sure.
-
-
Tina W. says:
Do you store the bars in the refrigerator given the cream cheese frosting? I’m thinking about trying this for the church bake sale this weekend, but I’m concerned about the frosting because they won’t be refrigerated.
-
Brigette says:
I don’t know how long your bake sale is, but I personally have never left them out for more than a few hours unrefrigerated. There have been times when I was taking them somewhere and knew they were going to be sitting for an hour or two before people ate them – and I cut them up, put them on a platter, sealed it well and stuck it in the freezer. I transported them frozen, but since they thaw quickly, they were perfect when it was time to eat. Figured this bought me some extra time out of the fridge. 🙂 I did just google this, and found all sorts of answers (from “no more than 2 hours” to “days – the powdered sugar will prevent any bacteria from developing.”) 🙂
-
WilliamB says:
The cream cheese is the key to the answer. Since it’s a dairy product that should be fridged, the Official Answer is two hours. FYI, the Official Answer has changed over time: when I attended cooking school it was four hours.
Let me also point out that the Official Answer is to prevent illness in everyone, including the very young, the very old, and the severely immunocompromised. The overwhelming majority of persons would be fine if the frosted bars were left out longer.
One thing you could do is frost in stages. Say, frost half for the first part of the sale, with the rest of the frosting cooled (fridge, cooler, etc.), When the first half is almost gone, frost the rest and put that out.
And gotta say – what the heck!!! re “the powdered sugar will prevent any bacteria from developing.” That is the biggest load of baseless nonsense I have seen in a long time. One, sugar does not prevent bacteria from developing and two, bacteria isn’t the only concern.
-
-
-
Becky says:
MMMM Brigette!!! Another delicious recipe. I think I will make these for our Thanksgiving potluck at church. Thank you!!
-
Amanda says:
I made your recipe for brownies last night (made them black bottom brownies and added my own cheesecake topping). They were the best brownies I have ever made! Thank you! Will be trying these bars this weekend!
-
-
Feel free to reduce the sugar and sub in applesauce for part of the oil – I’m sure they would still taste amazing! But yeah, definitely a holiday or company kind of recipe. 🙂
-
I love this pumpkin bar recipe, but I always make it with less sugar and often make it with half milk/half oil, and it still always turn out great.
-
-
And this recipe DOES make a huge pan – so if you divide the amount of sugar/oil by the amount of servings, it doesn’t sound nearly so bad. 😉
-
-
This should answer your question:
-
-
-
-
Kim says:
Do these turn out cake like? If so, does anyone have a chewy pumpkin bar recipe too? I want to make both!! I’ve been craving pumpkin!! 🙂
-
These are not chewy. They are thinner than cake, but still like a light, moist cake. However – most people, even the ones who aren’t cake fans like myself, really like this recipe.
-
Bridgette is right, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like these pumpkin bars even if they don’t like cake.
I make basically the same pumpkin bar recipe (just with a little less sugar) and love it, but if I want something chewier/denser with pumpkin flavor I make pumpkin scones. They are really great too.
http://www.thedoityourselfmom.com/2011/11/diy-pumpkin-scones.html
-
-
-
Sarah says:
Do you cut them into bars and then freeze some of them on something else (another pan)?
-
I’ve done it like that and it works great. I’ve also frozen the entire jelly pan (sealed well), and taken it out, cut a few bars off, wrapped it and stuck the pan back in, etc. Even when frozen “solid,” it’s not hard to cut at all.
-
-
Kristina says:
Has anyone tried this without the eggs? Suggestions for all natural substitutes? We don’t use the egg replacers. Egg allergic children over here!
-
I haven’t – sorry! I do know that I was baking muffins the other day and realized I didn’t have eggs, and ended up using applesauce instead – and they turned out great! That might work in this recipe.
-
-
Jennifer says:
For anyone who needs to eat gluten free – I make this same recipe and substitute a gluten free flour mix for the flour and add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum. They are really good. I serve them to people who don’t have to eat gluten free all the time and they never know the difference and ask for more!
-
-
They will end up significantly thicker – definitely like cake (and the frosting will be thicker as well). You’d probably have to cook them longer too. The flavor would still be the same. 🙂 It might work to do a 9×13 plus a smaller pan (loaf size or 8×8?). Sorry I can’t be of more help here!
-
-
Annette says:
Wondering if you have ever used zucchini in place of pumpkin in this recipe? Does it also freeze well?
-
Jackie says:
Did you freeze these in the jelly roll pan or did you cut them and put them into a storage container?
-
-
Plain pumpkin puree. I’ve made it with canned or homemade, and both work!
-
-
Jenny Mccully says:
My jelly roll pan is 17×11 so they will be a thinner version? Will they be just as good?
-
Krysten says:
I’ve made this before with this recipe and it is delicious. Wish the ads wouldn’t split up the ingredients though cause this time didn’t catch the 1st ingredient-sugar that was split from the rest of the list so I messed up this batch. 🤦♀️
Sidney 
Jen 
deseray 
Lianna 
Money Saving Mom® Comment Policy
We love comments from readers, so chime in with your thoughts below! We do our best to keep this blog upbeat and encouraging, so please keep your comments cordial and kind. Read more information on our comment policy.