Pumpkin Bars

September brings colored leaves, campfire weather and happy feelings of fall. All that good stuff might not be here yet, but it is September, and I'm busting out the pumpkin.

I used to be a picky kid. Anything with pumpkin grossed me out, even pumpkin pie. When I decided to grow up a few years ago, I realized I was quite in love with the orange puree.

For one thing, it's a healthy ingredient for baking. One cup has only 49 calories and plenty of fiber to keep you full for a while. When you bake as much as I do, you have to make a healthy dish every now and then.

Secondly, it's orange! It takes on its own bright personality without any added dye.

And, now that I'm a big girl, I'll admit that pumpkin has flavor. It tastes so good in a pie, in a cupcake, mixed with chocolate, and, my favorite, pumpkin bars topped with cream cheese frosting.

Since Boyfriend wants healthier desserts (and I could stand for some low-cal treats, too), I used a recipe from sheknows.com which substitutes Greek yogurt for any butter or oil you'd normally use. This swap takes away lots of fat and calories, while keeping the delicious taste.

These pumpkin bars are quite easy to make and don't take a lot of time. The cakey part is fluffy and pumpkin-y, everything you could want. I used a light cream cheese frosting and topped them with slivered almonds. They taste great with only the frosting, but the almonds make them look like they're ready to party.

I recommend chilling the bars before eating so the frosting will set and harden. I think they taste better when the frosting is cold.

I think I'll be making these a lot this fall!

Pumpkin Bars

Yields: About 16 cake bars

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Cooking spray

For the frosting:

8 ounces light cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped

Directions:

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8-inch glass cake plate with cooking spray.
Mix pumpkin, yogurt, vanilla, egg whites and sugar well in a large mixing bowl. Once combined, add in baking soda, baking powder, flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice until fully mixed.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until cake comes out dry when inserted with a toothpick.
To make the frosting: Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together. Once cake has cooled, frost and garnish with toasted almonds.