Three Years Later, and I Love my Mixer!

My mom gave me my mixer for Christmas, three years ago.  I hate to admit this, but it was still in the box.  Sorry, Mom.  But hey, today was like Christmas all over again, except this time, I was actually excited about the mixer. Really excited. 

She knew I would love it one day; she was right.

I pulled this beauty out of the box not really knowing where to start and already hyperventilating about where to store it when I'm finished.  We are completely out of cabinet space.  But I didn't let that stop me.  I was on a mission.

I'm sorry about my pumpkin experience, yesterday.  But I can't hold it against all pumpkins.  After all, they are one of my favorite parts of Fall: pumpkin spiced lattes from Starbucks, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie.

We are headed back to Land's End this weekend.  This is our actual family trip for Fall.  William and I just happened to sneak in last weekend.  I can't wait to spend some time with Kristen and Tony and my mom and dad. 

I'm going to surprise them all; actually, surprise may not be the appropriate word.  Perhaps, SHOCK would be better.  I've never brought a baked good to our trips.  I'm usually in charge of toilet paper or paper towels.  But not this time.  I'm putting my faith back in pumpkins and bringing.....Paula Dean's PUMPKIN BARS.

Okay, back to the kitchen.

My first thought, what do you do with this thing?

I gathered all of my ingredients.  I've been surprised by how little I have to buy to bake.  Most of the ingredients are already in my cabinet.  The only purchases I made were pumpkin and powdered sugar for the icing.

Help!  Which one do you use?  Eeny, Meeny, miny, moe?

I combined the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin in my mixer.

Then, stirred the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  These were flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.

I added the dry ingredients to the mixer.

This is the only part of baking I've ever been exposed to...standing over the sink, licking whatever this thing is called.  I would fight for this part. 

Into the pan, it goes.  With a few lumps.  Oops. 

It cooked for about 25 minutes on 350 degrees.  I began the icing.

I blended the cream cheese and butter, added the sugar, and vanilla, and spread it on the cooled pumpkin bars.

The outcome was amazing.  Really, the picture doesn't do it justice.  Pumpkin bars are the perfect treat for a cool fall day.

Thank you, Pumpkin, for restoring my faith in you.