Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

13 Comments

5 from 6 votes
16 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars are moist and tender like cake but as easy to make as brownies with chocolate chips, pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice. The perfect fall dessert!

Our Holiday Desserts are chock-full of tasty pumpkin and chocolate. Desserts like our Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, this recipe is more portable for eating on the go, kid friendly and easy to add your favorite frosting to the top.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars have all the flavors of a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie but with the textures of a cakey brownie. They’re easy to make, bake quickly and can be the perfect morning treat (that’s portable) or easy holiday dessert you can let the kids decorate as a sheet cake.

The fall season seems to be all things pumpkin around here and we are not shying away from baking with pumpkin these days! These bars are a classic treat your whole family will love but for a more unique pumpkin dessert bar you can also try our Pumpkin Fluffernutter Bars which are amazing! 

MORE DELICIOUS PUMPKIN RECIPES:

HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 baking pan with baking spray.
  • Add butter, sugar and brown sugar to a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, for 1-2 minutes.
  • Add in the egg, vanilla extract and pumpkin puree until smooth.
  • Sift the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda and salt.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer until just combined on low speed then fold in the chocolate chips.
  • Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Pumpkin Chip Bars

VARIATIONS TO PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS:

  • Nuts:  Add chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts or your favorite).  You may want to bake a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip bars without nuts for your party just in case your guests have nut allergies.
  • Fresh Cranberries: Swap out your chocolate chips for an equal amount of halved fresh cranberries like we did in my Pumpkin Cranberry Bread.
  • Butterscotch morsels:  Add or substitute an equal amount of butterscotch morsels.
  • Granulated Sugar:  Substitute half of the granulated sugar with brown sugar.
  • Other Chocolate Chips:  Substitute for dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips.

Making your own pumpkin pie spice is so easy.  Here are some substitutes for the spices in our bars.

  • Nutmeg:  If you’re out, no worries, use Allspice.  The English thought this spice tasted like a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, so they named it allspice.  The flavor profile makes it a good choice for a nutmeg substitute.  Use equal amounts of allspice in place of the nutmeg.
  • Cinnamon:  You may use ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice for every ½ teaspoon of cinnamon.
  • Ginger: For ½ teaspoon ground ginger, substitute ½ teaspoon ground allspice, cinnamon, mace or nutmeg.
  • Cloves: You may substitute ground cloves for equal amounts of allspice.  If you’re out of allspice, just use nutmeg or cinnamon instead or do a 50 to 50 blend of the two if you have both.

HOW LONG DO PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS LAST?

Well, not very long, truth be told.  But, just for the record…

  • Serve:  Allow pumpkin chocolate chip bars to cool 3 – 5 minutes before serving. You can leave them covered, on a counter, for up to 2 days. They are best refrigerated though, to prevent quick spoilage.
  • Store:  Once pumpkin chocolate chip bars are cooled, wrap tightly in heavy duty aluminum foil or plastic wrap, or pack in containers with tight-fitting lids.  Separate bars with waxed or parchment paper between layers.  As long as the bars are in an air-tight container, they will last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
  • Freeze:  Cool pumpkin chocolate chip bars completely before wrapping and freezing.  Wrap tightly in heavy duty aluminum foil or freezer wrap, or pack in freezer bags or plastic freezer containers with tight-fitting lids.  Separate bars with waxed or parchment paper between the layers.  Bars will last up to 3 months in the freezer.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars close up

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Dinner, then Dessert

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars are moist and tender like cake but as easy to make as brownies with chocolate chips, pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice.
Yield 16 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces pumpkin puree
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 baking pan with baking spray.
  • Add butter, sugar and brown sugar to a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, for 1-2 minutes.
  • Add in the egg, vanilla extract and pumpkin puree until smooth.
  • Sift the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda and salt.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer until just combined on low speed then fold in the chocolate chips.
  • Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 188mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 2591IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 2mg

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Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I’m reviewing this as I devour a piece warm out of the oven – DELICIOUS! Perfect blend of spices. Light and moist. I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts.

    Reply

  5. This is lovely and way better than plain old regular chocolate chip bars. I love the bar form too. Just one big slab, and cut once it’s baked. So much faster and easier than individual cookies. 🙂

    Reply

  6. Love this recipe and especially like that you give instructions on how to make your own pumpkin spice. I mean, most of those spices are in everyone’s pantry anyway and it’s one less thing you need to fit into that spice cupboard!

    Reply