Sunday, October 4, 2009

Mmmm, Does My House Smell Good Today!

While everbody was still in bed this morning I got busy and made some Pumpkin Streusel Bars. The whole house now smells SPICY! On Friday, I headed over to Chapel Hill to bring the First Year College Student Daughter home for the weekend. Her battery pack has been running low lately and this week we found out why. She has a case of Mono :( and needed to come home for the weekend for some TLC. She is doing much better now that the medicine has kicked in and so now we are focusing on lots of healthy food and lots of sleep before I take her back on Monday. Anyway, I got myself over to Chapel Hill a bit early in the day so I could do some shopping while I waited for her to finish her classes. I got to visit all the stores that they do not have here in Greensboro like Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, and Pottery Barn among others. I stopped in the Williams Sonoma as soon as I walked in the door I had to ask what that heavenly smell was??? They gave me a sample of the their Pumpkin Streusel Bars with fresh whipped cream. OMG! What do I need to make them? All I needed was a yellow cake mix and a jar of their Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter. I said SOLD!

Pumpkin Streusel Bars 002

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

1 box yellow caked mix

8 Tbsp. butter (1stick) melted

4 Tbsp. butter cold

3 large eggs

1 jar of Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter

2 Tbsp. milk

1 Tbsp. flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Serve with fresh whipped cream….Cool Whip works too! :)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Remove 1 cup of the yellow cake mix and set aside for the streusel topping. Stir together the remaining cake mix with the stick of melted butter and 1 of the eggs. Pour into prepared pan.

Stir together the Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter, 2 eggs and the milk. Pour over the cake batter in the pan.

Add the flour, sugar, and cinnamon to the bowl with the reserved 1 cup of cake mix. Add the 4 Tbsp. cold butter. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until pea sized crumbs form and the mixture clumps together. Crumble over the pumpkin butter mixture. Bake until golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool, then cut into squares and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Pumpkin Streusel Bars 009

And Here they are. You could even mix in some toasted pecans into the streusel topping and that might even make these better if that is even possible. And whipped cream really makes these even better.

Pumpkin Streusel Bars 008

I wish you could smell them!

7 comments:

Kelly said...

Ooh! Those bars look good. I'll have to go to get me some of that "secret ingredient" from Williams Sonoma myself. Just discovered your blog the other day from Southern Hospitality's fall party. I live in GA and all my family is from Greensboro NC so I guess I felt at home reading your blog. I'm enjoying it so far.

Stacey said...

That sounds wonderful. Isn't Williams Sonoma just so much fun? I can be convinced that I need all kinds of things in there.

I sure hope you daughter recovers quickly.

Linda@Coastal Charm said...

Yummy...sure sounds gooood! Glad to hear that your daughter is feeling better. Hope you have a great week.

Blessings,
Linda

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Hi Lisa! The pumpkin bars sound wonderful! I may just have to head on over to WS!! Sorry about your daughter! I spent one semester my junior year as a transient student at UNC Chapel Hill and came home with...guess what... mono! No....it's NOT fun! I'm sure your daughter appreciated the visit, the love and goodies! Happy week!...Debbie

Lisa@Pickles and Cheese said...

I am having problems being able to edit this post and I wanted to add that if anyone makes this recipe the batter for the first layer is very, very stiff and the word "pour" should really be "pat" into the prepared pan. Even though it is a cake mix it is really more like a sticky, stiff dough.
And thanks for the well wishes for my daughter!

Michelle said...

I love Pumpkin Butter and can not imagine how wonderful your Streusel must have tasted!

Sorry to hear about your daughter. I had Mono and was sick for almost 10 months. It's not fun, all I did was sleep.

Unknown said...

I'm going to have to make some of those bars, they look so good. My first visit and I am enjoying myself. Your Decorations look too cute and you have some very unusual ones. Hope your daughter is feeling better. Thanks for visiting.
Sandy