Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars | Dinners, Dishes & Desserts

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars a rich, chewy, and loaded with those fall spices. A twist on classic bar cookies with pumpkin.

The fall is all about pumpkin in just about any form! It can be Pumpkin Pie for the holidays or class Pumpkin Bars with a cream cheese frosting or even just Pumpkin Muffins.

But it is definitely found in just about any form you can eat or drink.

If you haven’t tried pumpkin and chocolate together before you are missing out! It is a match made in unsuspecting heaven. Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chip or even Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake are both really high up on my list.

These pumpkin cookie bars are soft, chewy, and are loaded with those fall spices that you know and crave as soon as the weather starts to cool off.

Why You’ll Love Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

• Simple Ingredients – the ingredient list might look long, but that is really because of the spices. And don’t worry, they are common spices or you can use pumpkin pie spice instead and cut that down to just on ingredient.
• Fast and Easy – You can get the batter for these pumpkin bars ready in about 10 minutes and then they just have to bake up. So much easier than making cookies with all the different trays, or a cake that you need to frost.
• Crave Worthy – the chocolate chips just add another dimension to these bars that make them something you will want to make on repeat all season long!

What You’ll Need

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card.

• All-Purpose Flour
• Cinnamon
• Ground Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Allspice
• Ground Cloves
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Butter – I always use unsalted when baking
• Granulated Sugar
• Egg
• Vanilla Extract
• Pumpkin Puree – do not use pumpkin pie filling
• Chocolate Chips

How To Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

• Whisk Dry Ingredients. In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and all of the spices until well blended. You can use pumpkin pie spice in place of all of the spices if that is what you have, see recipe card below for amounts.
• Mix Wet Ingredients. Start by creaming the butter and sugar together like you do when you make cookies. Once it is nice and fluffy beat in the egg and vanilla. Once that is fully incorporated add the pumpkin. The mixture may look a little chunky after you mix in the pumpkin, but that is ok.
• Combine Everything. Add the flour mixture and stir until the flour is just incorporated. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
• Bake. Spread the batter (it will be thick like a cookie dough) into a 13x9inch baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes. Once the bars are golden brown and a tester comes out clean you can remove and let them cool before slicing.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

• These are very much like a classic bar cookie, so you want to mix it up like you do Chocolate Chip Cookies. Beat your butter well, don’t over mix your flour and be careful not to over bake them.
• Yes, there is only 1 egg in this recipe. Traditionally cookies have 2, but the pumpkin helps act as a binding agent here (the eggs job in cookies), so you don’t need as many as normal.
• Mix up your chocolate. I like to use semi-sweet because it is what I always have on hand. But use milk chocolate or dark chocolate if you prefer.
• Make sure to start with softened butter, you want to make sure you get your sugar and butter well combined and incorporated. This leads to the best flavor and texture for cookies and bars.

Storage

These bars can be kept at room temperature for 3-4 days. Just cover them or place them in an airtight container.