High altitude soft pumpkin blondies with warm spices and chopped walnuts, frosted with buttercream and piped pumpkins. Or leave off the frosting and add chocolate chips instead of nuts for an easy fall dessert everyone will love.
You might also love these oatmeal cream pie cookie bars, hazelnut maple sugar cookie bars, and the best high altitude chocolate chip blondies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. The dough for these frosted pumpkin bars uses a whole can of pumpkin plus simple pantry ingredients. It comes together quickly with just a bowl and whisk, and if you make them without the buttercream frosting, you won’t even need a mixer.
Soft for Days. With the addition of the canned pumpkin, these pumpkin blondies with frosting are incredibly soft and moist, like a dense pumpkin cake with chewy edges if you get an edge or corner piece.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Butter. You’ll need unsalted butter for both the cookie bars and the buttercream.
- Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the blondies. You’ll also need powdered sugar for the buttercream.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Egg. Adds moisture and strength.
- Pumpkin. This recipe uses a whole can of pumpkin, which adds lots of moisture to keep the blondies soft even days after baking.
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the blondies structure and strength.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Spices. A blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice adds warmth and flavor to complement the pumpkin.
- Add-Ins. You could certainly add chocolate chips to these pumpkin blondies, but I decided to go with chopped walnuts. Pecans or even macadamia nuts would also be fine instead of the walnuts.
Instructions
Blondies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line it with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter, then let it cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, egg and pumpkin, until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, spices and walnuts (or chocolate chips). Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.
- Spread the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-37 minutes, until puffed and golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the blondies completely before frosting. You can speed this up by letting them cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then in the refrigerator for 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and the salt. Add the extracts.
- Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl several times, until light and fluffy, then turn the speed down to “stir” for 1 more minute.
- Frost the cooled blondies all over with the buttercream, reserving 3/4 cup.
- Tint the reserved buttercream with the orange gel food coloring and a drop or two of brown, to deepen the color. Use a piping bag and tip #18 to pipe little pumpkins all over the frosting. Add more brown food coloring (a little cocoa powder added helps, too) to the remaining buttercream to tint it a dark brown, then use a piping bag and tip #16 to pipe stems on the pumpkins.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days.
I used tip #18 for the pumpkins and #16 for the stems.
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High Altitude Frosted Pumpkin Blondies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 9×13 Baking Dish
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Blondies
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 can (15 oz) plain pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¾ – 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (or chocolate chips)
Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp maple extract (optional)
- gel food coloring in "orange" and "chocolate brown"
Instructions
Blondies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line it with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter, then let it cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, egg and pumpkin, until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, spices and walnuts (or chocolate chips). Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.
- Spread the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-37 minutes, until puffed and golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the blondies completely before frosting. You can speed this up by letting them cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then in the refrigerator for 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and the salt. Add the extracts.
- Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl several times, until light and fluffy, then turn the speed down to "stir" for 1 more minute.
- Frost the cooled blondies all over with the buttercream, reserving 3/4 cup.
- Tint the reserved buttercream with the orange gel food coloring and a drop or two of brown, to deepen the color. Use a piping bag and tip #18 to pipe little pumpkins all over the frosting. Add more brown food coloring (a little cocoa powder added helps, too) to the remaining buttercream to tint it a dark brown, then use a piping bag and tip #16 to pipe stems on the pumpkins.
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