Addicted

Confession time. I am addicted to pumpkin-chocolate-chip bars. I would love to blame it on the pregnancy, but this year is no different than any other. Every fall when I bake up a batch they disappear entirely too quickly. I baked some over the weekend - one of these bars and a tall glass of ice-cold milk and I'm in heaven. Surely the pumpkin has some antioxidants or vitamins or something in it that the baby needs for development!

Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip Bars
Makes 24

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 1 large egg
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
* 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

In addition to keeping the cake from sticking to the pan, lining the pan with foil makes it easy to lift it out after baking. If you can't find pumpkin-pie spice, substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon each allspice and cloves (all ground).

YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(recipe and photo from marthastewart.com)