Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

Serves 16-24, depending on how you cut them.

This recipe is as delicious as the original, but the pumpkin layer makes it perfectly autumnal.
Slightly adapted from: Vanilla Sugar

Pumpkin layer:

1 egg

8 ounces of plain pumpkin puree

½ ts pure vanilla extract

a few dashes of cinnamon

a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice

1 ½ - 2 cups crushed graham crackers (depending on how thick you like the crust)

12 tbsp. unsalted butter

¾ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts, I omitted the nuts entirely)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ cup butterscotch chips (I didn't have these, so I chopped up caramels to use instead)

¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted (optional to toast, I did not)

1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Heavily spray with nonstick or line a 9 or 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  If using parchment or aluminum make sure to spray that too with nonstick cooking spray. 

Melt the butter over medium heat; add in the graham crumbs, and mix well.

Using your fingers or a spatula spread crumbs into pan, making sure to get all the edges. If you want to prebake this for 10 minutes to help it get crisp then go ahead. 

In a small bowl mix the pumpkin puree with the egg; add in the vanilla extract and as much spice as you want. I did about 4 shakes of cinnamon and 2 shakes of pumpkin spice.  Then place a layer of the pumpkin mixture on top of the graham.  Do not spread the pumpkin mixture to the edges —you don’t want it to seep out.

Then add the layer of pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and toasted coconut.  Next pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish. 

Bake until the top is golden brown and mixture is set in the middle (no jiggly), about 25-28 minutes. 

Cool on a wire rack for a couple hours.  I then put mine in the fridge to help it firm up to make the slicing much easier. Remove the bars from the pan.  Then using a very sharp knife, cut into bars.  If the slicing is sticky, it helps to wet the knife with warm water.

It’s best to store this in the fridge. Keeps about 2 days then it gets soggy.