Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Icing

I was in the grocery store the other day and mid sentence about something to do with tomatoes I noticed they had pie pumpkins out.  I promptly forgot what I was saying and rushed over to the pumpkins leaving Chris hanging on whatever I was oh so important about the tomatoes.  Chris wasn't nearly as excited as I was, but we ended up going home with a pumpkin.

The puree from one pumpkin supplied me with enough pumpkin for bars, a pie, and pumpkin spiced lattes.  For now, the pumpkin bars. 

I used a recipe from the Food Network's website.  I've never made a bad recipe off their site and this was no exception.  The bars came out moist, dense, and perfectly done in the allotted time.  I did add a few dashes of nutmeg and ground cloves since just cinnamon seemed a little plain.  I've never made pumpkin bars before but I've sampled plenty- these were by far the best I've tried.  I brought them to school and left them in the teacher's lounge. They were gone before lunch.

A friend of mine has a special spot in her heart for the seasonal pumpkin spice lattes at the coffee shops, so we decided to give homemade ones a try.  I used this recipe.  It tasted wonderful.  I wasn't a fan of the pumpkin "pulp" that settled to the bottom of the mug, but my friend didn't seem to mind.