Pumpkin Pie Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi there! Welcome to my new digs! Isn't it pretty???

I've been playing around with the idea of getting my blog designed for me for quite some time. As a birthday/anniversary present to myself, I decided to go ahead and finally take the plunge! And I finally found someone I was really excited about to design it for me!

Sharon over at Redbud Designs was amazing to work with! And I can't say that I'm the best customer...at all. I really had no idea what I wanted. I knew a color scheme and I wanted this space to have a 1950's malt shop type of feel. Other than that, I gave her pretty much nothing! And this is what she came up with! I definitely think she hit the mark!

Many things are the same, but I now have a "browse by topic" drop down box, a fun new blog button, a pretty "print this recipe" button, and I'm loving having my Instagram feed on the sidebar. I'm a bit obsessed with Instagram. LOL! The only thing I feel is missing is maybe some place to share what books I'm reading now. I may have to email Sharon about that.

AND! A friend of mine gifted me my own domain name for my birthday! Now you can type in www.joltsandjollies.com and you will be brought directly here! It makes things a bit easier I think, don't you??

For a while now I've been trying to decide what direction I wanted to take this blog. A while back I decided to create an every day kind of blog. But I don't seem to have time to dedicate to both blogs. So I may just incorporate the two together here. After all, this is where my heart lies. I love sharing recipes with you all. But maybe you will start seeing more about every day things.

I'm definitely interested in opinions and thoughts though. Would you be terribly annoyed if I talked to you about books every now and again? Or had some random post about military living? Or the kids?

I'm always looking to learn, grow, and develop. So any tips or ideas you all can give me would be great!

So. I think that's enough of that...for now. ;-)

Let's talk about pumpkin pie bars!

I have a little baking group on Facebook. I actually started that group before I was a member of The Cake Slice Bakers. At one point, a member of the group would choose a recipe and we would all make it as the "challenge" recipe. However, life gets in the way and we couldn't all keep up. Now it's turned into a place where we can share recipes and idea with one another.

Last month, however, someone shared a recipe for pumpkin bars and we all jumped on it. Most everyone made the recipe as it was written. But all the pictures and reviews of the bars seemed very fluffy and cake like. That wasn't what I wanted.

As I read through the reviews, I decided to make a more gooey bar. Mine didn't come out like cake, it came out more as pumpkin pie. It was definitely gooey...and moist.

The bar themselves were pretty good. But I paired mine with a maple cream cheese frosting that was to die for!! Truly, the frosting was definitely the star of the show. I couldn't get enough of it! I put little dollops on each of my bars but I think spreading it would be amazing too! However you choose to add the frosting, just make sure you have enough on each bar to have frosting on each bite. You won't regret it. Shoot...you may even just end up grabbing a spoon and forgetting about the bars all together. But hopefully not.

Let's get baking!

Whisk together your flour, leaveners, and some choice spices. Set aside.

Now beat together the pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and oil until thoroughly combined.

Add in the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time. Mix until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake it up then let it cool completely.

Now make your frosting...this is the best part! Cream together the butter and cream cheese, then beat in some vanilla, maple, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and a bit of salt.

Mix in a couple cups of powdered sugar, then taste it. If you want it thicker, add more. Mine worked with 2 cups.

When your bars are cool, slice them up, dollop the frosting on top (unless you want to spread it, that works too), serve, and enjoy!!



Pumpkin Pie Bars
Adapted From allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with baking spray.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, on medium speed, mix together the pumpkin puree, sugar, eggs, and oil until combined.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time and mix until thoroughly combined.
5. Scrape batter into baking dish and spread into an even layer using a rubber spatula.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the middle no longer jiggles and a tester inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before frosting**.
8. Slice, serve, and enjoy!!

**Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon maple extract
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, on medium high speed, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Beat in the vanilla, maple, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt until well combined.
3. With the mixer on low, beat in 2 cups of the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until well combined.
4. Check for desired consistency and taste, add more powdered sugar as desired.

Lemon Pie Bars, a Review, and a Giveaway {CLOSED}

Note: The giveaway is at the end of this post. {GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED}

Have you ever heard that some people are really good at one or two things and some other people are pretty good at a number of things?

Well...I'm the latter type. I have many, many different interests. Mostly, my interests reside on the creative side of things. I like drawing and doing makeup. I've taught myself to knit. I've made wreaths. I've toyed with the idea of writing but figure I'll leave that to people who enjoy it. I've considered interior design. I have a degree in Psychology.

Okay. That last one isn't so much creative. But is it not? I wanted to be a therapist for a very long time. Now I don't think it's for me.

The one thing I haven't swayed on is baking. I love to bake. Baking is in my soul, it's in my blood. It's my history, my heritage, my inheritance.

As a young child, I would sit at my grandma's aged, formica topped table and watch her roll pie crust and form apricot fried hand pies. I remember the smells, the tastes, everything. Thinking of that wonderful, simple time brings me a sense of joy that not much else can.

When I picked up a copy of The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook I thought that it looked like a cute cookbook for which I could do a review and a giveaway. I had no idea what was really in store for me.

This cookbook brings back the thoughts of love and warmth that I used to feel at my grandma's kitchen table. The book provides a sense of love, family, community. I found myself on the verge of tears during the introduction.

This book pulls you in and makes you feel like you are home. At the beginning of each recipe are a few words by Cheryl about why the dish is special enough to be in the cookbook. There are stories of celebration and community hidden among the pages. Introductions to each section take you back into the childhood memories of Cheryl and Griff and make you nostalgic. There's even a poem written by a customer about a favorite cookie they sell in their shop.

The book is full of stunning, vintage like photos. The recipes are simple and easy to understand. There are no big words, the recipes are written as if you were explaining to a friend how to make a beloved recipe.

The book is broken down into 9 chapters:

1. Breakfast
2. Coffee Cakes, Quick Breads, and Sweet Yeast Breads
3. Cupcakes and Cakes
4. Pies, Cobblers, Crisps, and Tarts
5. Puddings and Custards
6. Cookies
7. Brownies and Bars
8. Confections
9. Savories

I have so many recipes on my to make list from this book. Seriously. It's bad. I want to make just about everything in this book.

I will admit. I have tried a number of these recipes. So far I've tried the snickerdoodles, cinnamon biscones with vanilla glaze drizzle, the hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting, and of course, these lemon pie bars. Not one thing on this list has disappointed. 

My dear friend Monica came over the day that I made these lemon pie bars. She decided to make the Drunk Blondies and we ended up trading bars with one another (so I've tried these too. That's 5 recipes so far!). I won't spend a lot of time on these bars because she is blogging about them today. After you are done here, you should pop over and read about these bars as well!!

These lemon pie bars were absolutely amazing. The perfect amount of tang and sweet. The crust was buttery and felt like it melted in your mouth as it gently crumbled upon each bite. The first [few] bars I ate were just the bars by themselves. However, I made some whipped cream for the pictures and fell even more in love with the bars than when they were naked! And I don't even like whipped cream!! But the sweetness and cloud like texture of the whipped cream just enhanced the lemon pie bars and made them extra special.

So without further ado, let's bake!

First, mix together some graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar.

Press the mixture into a pan and bake it up. Take it out to cool.

While the crust is cooling, whip up the filling. Toss together some cream, egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sweetened condensed milk and whisk it until thoroughly combined.

Pour the filling over the cooled crust.

Place in a water bath and bake it until it no longer jiggles. After it has baked, remove the bars from the water bath and let cool to room temperature. Place the pan in the fridge and allow to get really cold.

Slice into bars and top with whipped cream if you are into that kind of thing.

Serve and enjoy!!


Lemon Pie Bars
Adapted from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

For the Crust

• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 24 crackers)
• 12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons sugar

For the Filling

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 6 large egg yolks

Directions:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan and line with parchment, allowing the ends of the paper to hang over two opposite sides of the pan.
2. In a medium mixing bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar with a fork until evenly moistened. 
3. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan until level.
4. Bake the crust for 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool while preparing the filling.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
6. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks until well combined.
7. Pour filling over the cooled crust and level with a plastic spatula.
8. Place the baking dish into a larger pan and pour water into the larger pan until the water reaches about halfway up the sides of the smaller pan.
9. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles and the edges are puffed.
10. Remove pan from water bath and let cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate until cold.
11. Cut bars into squares, top with whipped cream if desired.
12. Serve and enjoy!

And what good is a cookbook review without a giveaway?? I loved this cookbook SO much that I want to share it with the world. Unfortunately, I can't afford that, so I'm giving one lucky person a copy of this wonderful cookbook. Here are the rules:

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

To enter this giveaway you MUST answer THIS question in the comments:

1. What is your favorite food/baking memory from back in the day?

For additional entries please leave a comment for each entry:

2. Follow Jolts & Jollies through Google Friend Connect or RSS feed

3. "Like" Jolts & Jollies on Facebook

4. Leave a comment on Monica's drunk blondies saying I sent you (If you are here from Monica's blog, leave an extra comment saying so)

This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) and will close at 11:59pm CDT on Tuesday, July 31st.

The thoughts and opinions given in this review are strictly my own. I have not been compensated in any way for this review and am paying for the giveaway copy myself.

Butterscotch White Chocolate Blondies

I can't believe how late I am to post today!

I started working on this post this morning but ended up having a very full day.

You see...The Hubble is home! We have been spending some quality time as a family and we have been loving it!!

At this moment, Little Butt is in bed and The Hubble is feeding and hanging out with Baby N.

The boys took some time adjusting to one another but so far, things are going pretty well. Daddy is figuring out how to handle the little guy and it's so cute.

Little Butt has been able to spend some alone time with Daddy too. They went to the store together this evening and have been having many dance parties.

I know our time is short but we are living it up as best we can!

So let me not spend too much more time here. Let me tell you about this recipe!

I made these blondies before I even had Baby N and I haven't stopped thinking about them.

I found the recipe in a Cooking Light magazine I grabbed at the store.

I thought the butterscotch blondies sounded awesome, but that they needed a little something extra.

Enter in white chocolate chips stage left.

The sweet white chocolate morsels were the perfect addition to these buttery bars.

And speaking of butter...this recipe uses brown butter!! Everything is better when you brown the butter!!

Let's get baking!

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.

Brown up your butter, cool it down then whisk it into the egg substitute.

Pour the egg and butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.

Stir in the white chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and even it out until smooth. Bake it up, cool it off then cut it up.

Serve and enjoy!!

Butterscotch White Chocolate Blondies

Adapted from Cooking Light

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup egg substitute

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with baking spray.
2. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in large mixing bowl.
3. Heat butter in a small skillet over medium heat for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally or until lightly browned. Pour into small bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes to cool.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg substitute and browned butter.
5. Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.
6. Fold in the white chocolate chips.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out with a rubber spatula.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 48 bars.
10. Serve and enjoy!!

White Chocolate Macadamia Coconut Congo Bars

Can I just say...bad days suck! And bad weeks suck even more!

I don't know about you, but last week was kind of hard for my little family. The Hubble was stressed with school stuff. Little Butt was tired and cranky. I was stressed because I was busy and Little Butt was cranky and The Hubble was stressed. Phew! I'm glad last week is over.

One particularly bad day last week, I decided it was time to turn things around. What is better to cure a bad day than cookies??

Little Butt and I sat ourselves in front of the baking pantry and we decided to search and find out what kind of stuff we had for cookies. We ran into a bag of white chocolate chips. We also found half a bag of coconut. Then I had a light bulb go off in my head when I remembered I had some macadamia nuts in the pantry above us!

I quickly turned to the interwebs to try to research some kind of white chocolate macadamia coconut cookie. I found some, but the cookie just didn't seem to do the combo enough justice. Then I remembered the Congo Bars I made previously.

Then...history was made. I made pretty much the best dessert I have ever tasted. As I doled out the bars to friends over the rest of the week the response I got was awfully consistent. Upon the first bite, the person would chew a bit...the eyes would go wide...and a quiet "oh my God" would escape past the lips of the now enlightened individual.

I will be making these again...and soon. These will put anyone in a great mood and I want to pass on my remedy for a bad day to you.

Follow me...

Grab your ingredients: unbleached all purpose flour, baking powder, golden brown sugar, salted butter, vanilla, eggs, white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, and coconut.

Take a 13x9 inch baking dish and spray it really good with some of this stuff.

In a large bowl, sift your flour and baking powder.

In a separate large bowl, dump your golden brown sugar and butter together.

Take the back of a large spoon or your fingers and work the butter in until it disappears into the brown sugar.

Next, add your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Until all the eggs are well incorporated into the batter.

At this point you want to toss in your vanilla, white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts and one cup of the coconut. Mix it all up together really well.

Dump in the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) and mix the ingredients in well. I usually end up having to use my hands because the batter is super thick.

Dump the batter into the "greased" baking dish and spread it out evenly. Now toss it in the oven...

After about 15 minutes in the oven, remove the dish and top with the leftover 3/4 cup of coconut, sprinkling evenly. Put it back in the oven...

Until the bars are cooked through and the coconut is nicely toasted, about 15-20 minutes more. Be careful not to overbake. These are cookies but will have the texture of brownies (or blondies) and overbaking is very bad news!

Allow these to cool in the baking dish for about 15 minutes then remove to a cooling rack or serving tray to cool completely. Cut into evenly sized portions (bars).

I will admit that I didn't wait for them to cool completely. I ate them warm. I ate them cold. I ate them for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. Enjoy!

Linked to Mommie Cooks.

White Chocolate Macadamia Coconut Congo Bars
Adapted from Bakerella




Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2/3 cup (10 2/3 Tablespoons) salted butter, softened
• 2 cups golden brown sugar 
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 12 ounce package white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts 
• 1 3/4 cup coconut, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift flour and baking powder into large bowl. Set aside.
3. Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
4. Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
5. Add vanilla, white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts and 1 cup of the coconut. Mix well.
6. Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.
7. Coat a 13x9 inch pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
8. Bake for 15 minutes; remove and sprinkle 3/4 cup of coconut evenly over the top. 
9. Return to oven for another 15-25 minutes or until top is golden brown and coconut is lightly toasted. Make sure you don’t over bake.
10. Allow to cool; cut into even portions. Enjoy!