Fudgy Pumpkin Spice Bars đđ are rich, dense, and supremely moist, like pumpkin fudge crossed with fudgy brownies. A browned butter vanilla bean glaze makes them completely irresistible!
Easy Fudgy Pumpkin Bar Recipe
- Fudgy is the only word that describes the pumpkin bars. Theyâre like biting into a piece of super soft pumpkin fudge that’s crossed with the pumpkin equivalent of moist, fudgy brownies.Â
- They’re rich, soft, supremely moist, and tooth-sinkingly dense and satisfying. If youâre looking for a fluffy slice of pumpkin cake, theyâre not that.Â
- The bars are packed with rich pumpkin flavor and the glaze makes the bars go from really good to life-changing.Â
- Lately I’ve been topping everything I can with the glaze because it’s just that good. The secrets are browned butter and glorious vanilla bean seeds. They’re such powerfully flavored ingredients, and flavor just explodes from the glaze.Â
- Between the warming spices of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, coupled with the glaze, I was in fall comfort food heaven. I loved the bars, hoarded them, and was sad to see the last one go.
Ingredients in Fudgy Pumpkin Spice Bars
- White chocolate chips and unsalted butter: These make the bars extra rich, dense, and fudgy. Be careful when melting white chocolate because it can scorch or seize if overheated.
- Egg, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon: Use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, since the two are not interchangeable as written. I use plenty of pumpkin pie spice for bold fall flavor, but you can adjust the spices to taste.
- All-purpose flour and salt: These dry ingredients give the bars structure while keeping them soft and fudgy.
- Confectionersâ sugar, browned butter, vanilla bean paste, and cream or milk: These make the browned butter vanilla glaze. Vanilla bean paste or vanilla bean seeds give the glaze the best flavor, but vanilla extract works in a pinch.
- Optional variations: You can top the bars with cream cheese frosting instead of the glaze, use homemade pumpkin puree if the batter consistency looks right, or stir in mini chocolate chips or finely chopped nuts.
How to Make Fudgy Pumpkin Spice Bars
- These soft, dense pumpkin bars are made with melted white chocolate for an extra fudgy texture, plus a browned butter vanilla glaze that soaks right into the warm bars.
- Melt the white chocolate, then stir in the egg, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin, and warm spices.
- Add the dry ingredients and stir until the thick pumpkin batter comes together.
- Turn the batter into an 8×8-inch pan and bake until the bars are set and a toothpick comes out mostly clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Make the vanilla browned butter glaze while the bars finish baking, then pour it over the warm bars so it seeps in and makes them even softer, moister, and fudgier.
Fudgy Pumpkin Spice Bars with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze
đđ Rich, dense, and supremely moist, these bars are like pumpkin fudge crossed with fudgy brownies. A browned butter vanilla bean glaze makes them completely irresistible!
Equipment
Ingredients
Bars
- ž cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, melted
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ž cups all-purpose flour
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Glaze
- Âź cup unsalted butter, browned (how to brown butter tutorial
- 1 heaping cup confectionersâ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- about 1/4 cup cream or milk, or as necessary for consistency
Instructions
Make the bars:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl add the white chocolate, butter, and heat to melt, about 2 minutes on high power. Stop to check and stir after 1 minute, and then heat in 20-second bursts, stopping to stir after each burst, until mixture can be stirred smooth. White chocolate is very prone to scorching and seizing up, so watch it carefully and donât overheat.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you donât scramble it. Add the egg, sugar, vanilla, and whisk until combined.
- Add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and whisk until combined.
- Add the flour, optional salt, and stir until just combined; donât overmix.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. In the last 10 minutes of baking, make the glaze.
Make the Glaze:
- Brown the butter (click for tutorial). Cook butter over medium-high heat in a small saucepan until itâs amber to brown in color, about 5 minutes depending on pan size, but watch it closely so you donât burn it. I swirl the pan in the last minute or so to make sure I can really see the color changes. Butter will go through stages of hissing, sputtering, and making noise until the water cooks off at which point the browning occurs. Butter will smell nutty and aromatic.
- Transfer butter, including brown bits at the bottom of the pan (theyâre flavor powerhouses, keep them) from pan to large mixing bowl which stops any carryover cooking.
- Add the confectionersâ sugar, vanilla bean paste, optional salt, and slowly add the milk, whisking until smooth or beat with a handheld electric mixer. As necessary, add additional cream (or confectionersâ sugar) to reach desired glaze consistency. Glaze should be of medium thickness and easily pourable.
- Evenly pour glaze over bars (they donât have to be cooled first), smoothing it lightly with a spatula if necessary, but glaze will likely just slide into place.
- Allow bars to cool in pan uncovered for at least 2 to 3 hours, (or overnight and cover with a sheet of foil) before slicing and serving so glaze can set up.Â
Notes
To store: Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Adapted from Fudgy Banana Bread Bars and Lemon Lemonies.
Nutrition
Serving: 1, Calories: 346cal, Carbohydrates: 41g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 58mg, Sodium: 60mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 25g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pumpkin Spice Desserts:
If you havenât already pre-ordered it, Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook. There are over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. Iâd be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon.
Soft Pumpkin Praline Bars â SUPER soft pumpkin bars studded with chocolate chips, candied pecans, and plenty of pumpkin pie spice!! A FAST and EASY dessert that feeds a crowd for your fall and winter celebrations!!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies â Between the molasses, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin pie spice extract that I used, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies beautifully showcase the flavors of fall!
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting â Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting. This easy fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
I agree…everything needs to be pumpkin-vied! Of course, adding brown butter to things helps too ;)
adding brown butter to things helps too ;) <--- ALWAYS!! :)
Oh, I love these!! I love that you melt the white chocolate with the butter. Genius!! Pinned!
melt the white chocolate with the butter <--- I do that to keep them lite and low-cal :)
Lemon, banana, pumpkin… keep ’em coming! These look phenomenal. And I can’t get over that glaze. I will be trying these soon. Thank you!
Amazing! I was surprised to see white chocolate in the batter, but I supposed that is what makes them fudgey :) Also, I love the little vanilla bean specks in the glaze. Gorgeous.
The white chocolate yes makes them fudgy and also gives them some sweetness that you can’t get from using sugar…both a texture thing for density and a taste thing!
You and I are kindred spirits with wanting things fudgey/chewy rather than cakey and for me this is especially true with pumpkin bars and cookies. Thank goodness for you coming up with all these wonderful treats that I can make!
LMK what you end up trying!
I want to bathe in that glaze.
So, I got pumpkin powder the other day because I was curious about it and now I think I need to make some kind of pumpkin-y fudge-y dessert. With white chocolate, obviously, because you’ve turned me on to it and now it is far above milk chocolate in my chocolate ranking. Still behind dark, but barely.
I didn’t even know pumpkin powder existed! Buttermilk powder about 3 years ago for me was the last new powder I discovered that I didn’t even know about. I wrote a cookbook about pumpkin and didn’t know about pumpkin powder..crazy! I can see you making something Katie-ish with it, with white choc, some sort of smoothie-ish bowl of something!
if yo can make these bars with lemon then bananas and now pumpkin then they truly must be the perfect bar! So versatile. I love the hints of vanilla bean with the pumpkin flavor throughout! Yum
Super versatile and I love them all :)
These look stunning – almost like straight fudge! And the thicker and fudgier bars are – the better!! Love that the glaze has browned butter and vanilla bean – yum! Pinned :)
Thanks for pinning! And yes, the thicker and fudgier bars are â the better!!
what if no vanilla bean handy-wil it still work
I’m all about fudgy bars, Averie! Your description sounds fabulous! And the browned butter glaze looks irresistible. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning!
They definitely look like something I could sink my teeth into. Vanilla bean adds such a pop of flavor. I love it!
Beautiful. Pinned.
Have a sweet day!
Thanks for pinning!
You should be a motivational speaker! Reading this post, you had me convinced that if there was one thing I had to do today, it was make/eat these–of course, I guess that would be the logical thing to do anyway right? Anyway, these look to die for! I’ll have to squeeze them into my fall baking somehow!
Well that’s awesome and I did my job then! Truth be told, I used to sell timeshare. I could sell snow to eskimos pretty convincingly but seriously, these are one of my personal favorites!!
Your banana fudgy bars were just sinfully good, but now I’m going to have to try these ones! You’re so right about the vanilla bean glaze! I could pour it over just about anything…
If you try these, LMK which you like better…such a tough call!
Just stumbled across your blog – i think I just found my new favorite blog!! Really love the goodies you bake, I’m so happy I found you!
Well thanks and LMK if you end up making anything!
I think these pumpkin bars look the best of the three! So chewy and delicious looking, girl. Yum!
Thanks, it was a hard 3 to pick from, that is for sure :)
I love what you do with brownie-style bars, Averie! This one is a must-bake. As in, I’m baking it later today!
Reall?! Well please LMK how it goes!! and what you think!
Ok you just have to stop….these looks so yummy…my list of your recipes is growing especially now that I have the pumpkin cookbook…I’m going to need time off from work just to bake everything I want to!!!! I also need a larger family to eat it all….these bars look so moist and I love that vanilla bean icing.
Now THESE SHOULD HAVE been in the pumpkin cookbook. It’s so hard because I keep coming up with things that I wish were in the book but that was ‘closed’ for new recipes almost 18 mos ago and there were no where in my head back then!
Trust me, I have to donate 95% of what I make. But these, I kept for myself :)