Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Sunday I was looking for a pumpkin bar recipe to use up a cup of pumpkin I had in the fridge.  I wanted a treat but not something with huge amounts of sugar and oil.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and made just a few changes.  They turned out great, sort of like pumpkin pie with cream cheese frosting-yum!  I didn't make the frosting because I had some cream cheese frosting already in the freezer. 


Frosted Pumpkin Bars
adapted from allrecipes.com

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 Splenda and 1/2 sugar)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites (I used 1/2 c. egg substitute)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 4 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Add egg, egg whites, pumpkin, oil and water; mix well. Transfer to an 8x8 baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese. Beat in confectioners' sugar, then vanilla and lemon peel. Frost bars. Chill for 15 minutes, then cut. Refrigerate leftovers.