HAPPY FIRST WEEKEND OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON! Whew, sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you. I’m just really excited about the return of college football and watching my beloved Gators every Saturday for the next few months. After the last giveaway on E&C, I found out that a lot of you are as excited about football’s return as I am. So, in honor of football’s opening weekend, I’m breaking all the rules, jumping the gun and serving up a pumpkin recipe in August.
In our house, game day is usually accompanied by some sort of celebratory snack. And if you’re anything like me, nothing says game day snack like a giant pan of pumpkin bars. Beer is also a big part of most game day celebrations, so what better thing to do than combine the two?
Side note: On Fridays in the Hofmeyer house, the fridge is practically empty. I’m not even joking, right now I’ve got two heads of lettuce, a bag of baby carrots, 1/2 gallon of milk, some butter, hummus, a couple yogurts and Joe’s beers in there and that is it. So, if you’re refrigerator is anything like mine on a Friday and you need to make a game day treat without eggs, this is your recipe, my friends. The beer takes the place of eggs and oil in this recipe. How cool is that?
Except for the fact that they have beer in them, I think these bars would also make a fantastic coffee cake in the cooler months. I’ve heard that you can use soda in boxed cake mixes, too, so if you want to make it for breakfast and feel bad serving friends and family beer before 10 a.m., perhaps a Sprite would do?
Pumpkin-Beer Bars with Streussel Topping
Ingredients
Bars
*1 box yellow cake mix
*1 cup amber beer
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
*Pinch of ginger
*3/4 cup pumpkin puree
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Streussel
*1/4 cup sugar
*1/4 cup rolled oats
*2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
*2 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
Icing
*Powdered sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and milk to reach drizzling consistency.
Instructions
*Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch shallow baking pan or jelly roll pan. Set aside.
*In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the bars. Stir until just combined. Transfer batter to the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
*In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the streussel. Blend together with your fingers and break up butter until butter is in small pieces. Sprinkle streussel over bar batter.
*Bake bars for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Combine the ingredients for the icing, adding enough milk to reach a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the bars and cool completely. Cut into squares to serve.
Happy Baking!
Madison