Pumpkin bars baked in a single wide sheet pan and finished with cinnamon sugar scattered over the batter before it goes into the oven.
Fifteen minutes of whisking, twenty-odd minutes of baking, and twenty-four bars from one pan. No frosting, no filling, no second component.
Why This Recipe Works
- A whole 15-ounce can of pumpkin against four eggs and a cup of oil makes a batter wet enough to stay moist in a thin sheet, which is exactly where most bar recipes dry out.
- Oil rather than butter is the right call for something eaten at room temperature. Butter firms as it cools and takes the crumb with it; oil does not, so a bar from the tin two days later is still soft.
- The cinnamon sugar goes on raw. As the surface sets, the granules sit half-embedded in the crust and crackle when you cut — sprinkled on afterwards they would simply fall off.
- Both baking powder and baking soda are here on purpose. The soda works against the acidity of the pumpkin; the powder does the general lift. Two teaspoons and one teaspoon respectively, and they are not interchangeable.
- A jelly-roll pan bakes this in 20 to 24 minutes rather than the 40-plus a deeper tin would need, and the short bake is most of why the bars stay tender.
Eight Steps, Four Stages
There is no creaming, no melting and no resting in this recipe. It is a whisked oil batter, which is why it goes together in a quarter of an hour — but that also means the folding stage is the only place it can go wrong.
Stage 1 of 4
Set up
Steps 1–1 of 8
Oven to 350°F and a 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan greased, with parchment on the base if you want to lift the whole sheet out later. This is a wide, shallow pan and the batter will be thin in it — that is correct.
- Heat the oven and prepare the panHeat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 15 x 10-inch rimmed jelly-roll pan and line the bottom with parchment if desired.
Stage 2 of 4
Two bowls, separately
Steps 2–3 of 8
Dry in one: flour, both raisers, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt. Wet in the other: eggs whisked with the sugar until smooth, then oil, pumpkin and vanilla. Keeping them apart is what stops the baking soda starting work before the batter reaches the pan.
- Whisk the dry ingredientsIn a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- Whisk the wet ingredientsIn a large bowl, whisk eggs and granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla.
Stage 3 of 4
Join them, and stop
Steps 4–5 of 8
Fold just until no dry streaks remain, then spread level. This is the one stage with a failure mode: every extra stroke past 'no dry streaks' develops gluten, and in a thin sheet that shows up as a tough, chewy bar rather than a tender one.
- Fold, and stop earlyAdd the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and fold just until no dry streaks remain.
- Spread it levelSpread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Stage 4 of 4
Finish and bake
Steps 6–8 of 8
Cinnamon sugar over the raw batter, 20 to 24 minutes, then cool completely in the pan before cutting. The sugar sprinkled on raw batter is what gives the fine crackled top rather than a damp dusting.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon sugarStir together the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, then sprinkle it evenly over the batter.
- BakeBake 20 to 24 minutes, until the centre springs back to a light touch and a tester comes out without wet batter.
- Cool, then cutCool completely in the pan before cutting into 24 bars.
Ingredient Notes
- Pumpkin puree, one 15-ounce can
- The whole can, plain puree rather than pie filling. The can size is doing real work here — it is most of the liquid in the recipe.
- Neutral oil
- A full cup. Something without flavour of its own: sunflower, canola, light rapeseed. This is not a place for olive oil.
- Granulated sugar
- Listed twice and used twice. A cup and two-thirds goes into the batter; two tablespoons are held back and mixed with cinnamon for the top.
- Ground cinnamon
- Also split: two teaspoons in the batter, half a teaspoon in the finish. Measure the second amount out before you start so it is not absorbed into the first.
- Four large eggs
- Whisked with the sugar until smooth before anything else joins them. That first whisk is what dissolves the sugar and gives an even crumb.
How to Make It
Heat the oven and prepare the pan
Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 15 x 10-inch rimmed jelly-roll pan and line the bottom with parchment if desired.
Whisk the dry ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Whisk the wet ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk eggs and granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla.
Fold, and stop early
Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and fold just until no dry streaks remain.
Spread it level
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar
Stir together the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, then sprinkle it evenly over the batter.
Bake
Bake 20 to 24 minutes, until the centre springs back to a light touch and a tester comes out without wet batter.
Cool, then cut
Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 24 bars.
Success Tips
- Make up the cinnamon sugar first — there is no gap later in which to do it.
- Stop folding the moment the flour disappears; a thin sheet punishes overmixing more than a deep tin does.
- Push the batter properly into the corners of the jelly-roll pan, which is wider than it looks.
- Start checking at twenty minutes; the difference between twenty and twenty-four is real in a shallow bake.
- Cut only once the sheet is completely cold, or the bars tear along the edges.
Serving Ideas
Cut squares straight from the pan, at room temperature. They travel well, which is the point of a bar rather than a cake.
Storage and Reheating
Refrigerate
Airtight at room temperature for 3 days. There is no dairy filling in these, so they do not need the fridge.
Freeze
Freeze cut bars in a single layer, then stack them with parchment between, for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Reheat
Not needed. If you want one warm, ten seconds in the microwave is plenty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Don't pumpkin bars usually have cream cheese frosting?
Many do. These are the cinnamon-sugar version: the sugar goes on before baking and sets into the top, so they are finished when they come out of the oven. If you want the frosted style, that is a different recipe rather than a step added to this one.
Can I bake this in a 9 x 13 pan?
That is a smaller, deeper pan and the batter would sit roughly twice as thick, so the 20-to-24-minute time no longer applies. Only the jelly-roll pan time is published here.
Why did mine come out chewy rather than tender?
Almost always overmixing at step 4. Fold until the dry streaks vanish and then put the spatula down — the batter can look slightly uneven and still bake evenly.
The cinnamon sugar disappeared into the top.
Some of it sinking in is what you want; that is where the crackle comes from. If none of it is visible, the batter was probably still very loose when it went on — spread the batter, then sprinkle straight away rather than leaving it to settle.
