Pumpkin Bars with cream cheese icing

Made these today for Tara's Thanksgiving feast at school and they are yummo!

Recipe was on Foodnetwork and is from Paula Deen.

Ingredients:

Bars:

4 eggs

1 2/3 C granulated sugar

1 C veg oil

15 oz can of pumpkin

2 C sifted all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Icing:

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 C butter, softened

2 C sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine eggs, sugar, oil & pumpkin and mix until light & fluffy.

Stir together flour, baking pwd, cinnamon, salt & baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 10x13" baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes*. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

*Side notes for the next time I make these (it took less than 30 min for these to cook; I checked them at about 18 minutes and layed foil around the edges of the pan b/c the edges were done but the center needed a few minutes more). It was also beneficial to let this cake cool for a couple of hours before attempting to cut it into bars and/or ice it.

This cake recipe is a great consistency to be used for bars. They actually turn out looking exactly like the picture! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!