Last-minute-itis...and pumpkin squares

This post is dedicated to anyone with a child that waits until the very last possible hour to decide what he or she would like to take for school snack. Having hemmed and hawed for much longer than necessary on Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday, Hailey (with much prompting) finally announced that she would have pumpkin squares or nothing! Now, I'll be honest, as much as I love baking, I do sometimes resort to box mixes, especially when I know that I will be doing the baking at 9:00 PM, after everything else is finished for the day and the munchkin has been put to bed. Alas, I was saddened to discover that there is no such thing as a mix for anything even resembling pumpkin squares. To add to my misery, although it is a supreme compliment from my fussy eight-year-old, Hailey was insistent that I make the squares from scratch because "they would be SO much better." So, Sunday evening found me searching the web for a recipe, no small task given that Hailey will not eat pumpkin pie, nor will she eat cheesecake, and it seemed that nearly every recipe I opened was for either a pie bar, or a cheesecake bar. I finally stumbled on one that sounded reasonable, and after a few tweaks the pans were in the oven baking away! The first thing Hailey said to me when I walked in the door from work yesterday was "the pumpkin bars were AMAZING!" SUCCESS!! Hopefully you will enjoy this recipe as much as we did...there were even some squares left over for this morning's breakfast. I think the recipe could even be used as a quick bread because it came out "cakey" rather than "cookie-ish." Also...I highly recommend either whipped topping or cream cheese frosting as a topper.

Pumpkin Squares!

4 large eggs, preferably farm-fresh
1 2/3 brown sugar
1 cup olive oil
2 cups mashed pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 8"x 8" pans.

Combine all of the wet ingredients and beat until they are well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend. Do not over mix...there may be a few lumps but that is fine. Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!!