Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8″ x 8″ baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over oats mixture and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Add in chocolate chips.

4. Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. The pumpkin keeps the bars moist, so make sure they are golden and set. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

6. I cut them into 4 squares and then I cut each square in half to make 8 bars (you could leave them as bars instead of small squares). Next, I cut each bar in half to make 16 small, perfect snack size-pieces.

Storage: I used all of the oatmeal that we had, leaving me with an empty container. After letting the squares cool completely, I cut some parchment and then stacked the bars into the container with the parchment between layers. I did the same with another container and took some to our neighbors. It’s a creative way to store them.

(Recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod.)