{Recipe} Pumpkin Magic Cookie Bars

This recipe came out of desperation.

 I had leftover pumpkin puree and needed to bring a dessert to a party. I was thinking originally of making a pumpkin cake roll but I was out of 10X sugar so I looked for a pumpkin bar recipe.  I couldn't find an exact recipe for what I wanted to make and with what I had on hand so I created my own and hoped for the best.

Crush up a packet of graham crackers and pour into a 9 x 13 baking pan. Melt 1 stick of butter and pour over the crumbs. Bake in a 350 F oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven.

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 package of softened cream cheese (8 ounce), 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice (or nutmeg, cinnamon & cloves..any combination of these three would work well). Mix with an electric mixer until well blended.

Spread the pumpkin mixture of the crust (you don't have to wait for the crust to cool).

Now you can get creative with whatever combination of goodies you like or have available.

We started with a layer of white chocolate chips (about 1 cup).  I only had a few semi sweet chocolate chips so we added them and then chopped up a few Dove milk chocolates (how bad could that be?).

Then some coconut (about 1 cup).

Then some chopped walnuts.

Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk over the whole thing and bake at 350 F for about 25-35 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. 

It should look something like this.  Let cool.  I cut and sampled one after it cooled and it was a little too soft so I put the whole tray into the fridge to firm up and they were much better that way.

They were delicious!!  Two of my favorite flavors in one yummy bar!

Linking up with:

Your Best Pumpkin Recipe

Point of View Autumn

Sweet As Sugar