Abra-Cadabra!

What says fall dessert more than PUMPKIN?!  (except pear.  And apple.  And possibly cherry... huh.  Ok, I guess there are a lot of things that say fall dessert.  That's kind of the point of this week.  Right, then.)

SO.  PUMPKIN says fall dessert... at least as well as pear, apple and cherry... and Thanksgiving time is pretty much THE perfect time for pumpkin desserts.

You do remember that time I admitted I don't like pumpkin pie, right?  I know.  Sacrilege.  But I'm always on the lookout for a yummy pumpkin treat, since I don't dislike pumpkin IN GENERAL.  Just pumpkin pie.

When I found these Pumpkin Magic Bars over on Picky Palate, I knew I had to try them out. Due to a little necessity and a little, uh, inventiveness, I changed up the recipe a bit.  Here's my:

You are familiar with Magic Cookie Bars, right?  To die for amazingness, right?  Add some pumpkin puree and spice it up a little, and this version surely will NOT disappoint.  

The recipe I found called for mini cheesecake cups, something I absolutely do NOT have on hand, and something I wasn't willing to fork money out for to only use once a year.  Do you agree?  Instead, I greased up my muffin tins like crazy and decided they'd be good enough.

Not something I'm likely to repeat.  Ever.  With anything other than lined cupcakes and muffins.  I will, instead, be using a 9x13 pan.  With this in mind, I had to update the recipe a bit more - tweak amounts, add a little of this, a little of that... and without further ado, here is my updated recipe with the alterations I will be using in the future.

Make no mistake, although they were extremely difficult to get out of the tins in one piece, they were STILL delicious.

Even though I totally botched the caramel sauce - like BIG TIME - we were able to look past that to the deliciousness beneath.  If you need a good caramel recipe, I suggest this one.  Because even though I broke up with Martha, she does know her desserts.  Usually.

Also.  If you don't like pumpkin pie either, check out this dessert.  Yum.

*Be sure to check the right sidebar for all the fun parties I link to!