I made these, I believe, on Monday and we are STILL eating them. Luckily, I cut the entire pan in half and gave the rest away to some girlfriends. They are truly lovely. They are perfectly gooey, kinda like a blondie, with a nice hint of pumpkin.

After I took the shot of these three lovers below, I devoured them. Ok, so I gave a couple of bites to Rt, just so he would stop crying. (Not really. He just whimpered a time or two.)

Bottom line: If you are wanting to make something festive from now until Thanksgiving, this should be it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

original recipe by In Good Taste.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp pumpkin-pie spice (I used a combo of cinnamon, ground ginger and nutmeg instead.)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut. These will be thick and gooey, so let cool before cutting.

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Earlier last week I asked Twitter what I should do with a can of pumpkin I had recently purchased from Trader Joe’s. Kakaty was kind enough to respond with these goodies. Thank you Kakaty for the perfect idea!