Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Prepare crust: Place flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, salt and spices in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Pulse a few times to chop oats and mix ingredients. Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl, followed by the pecans. Pulse to bring dough together. Transfer mixture to the pan, pressing down firmly with fingers to create an even layer over the bottom. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven until set but not brown. Remove from oven and set on wire rack to cool.
Prepare the filling: Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients for the filling together.
Pour filling into pan, smoothing it out into an even layer.
Transfer to oven and bake for 40 minutes or until set and tester comes out clean.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.
Pumpkin Pie Squares
Ingredients
For the crust:
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter (1 stick)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup pecans, finely chopped
For the filling:
1 398 mL (14 ounces) can puréed pumpkin
1 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, plus one additional egg yolk
1 tablespoon cinnamon, freshly ground
½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
½ teaspoon ground cloves, freshly ground
½ teaspoon cardamom, freshly ground
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
To serve:
whipped cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Prepare crust: Place flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, salt and spices in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Pulse a few times to chop oats and mix ingredients. Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl, followed by the pecans. Pulse to bring dough together. Transfer mixture to the pan, pressing down firmly with fingers to create an even layer over the bottom. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven until set but not brown. Remove from oven and set on wire rack to cool.
Prepare the filling: Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients for the filling together.
Pour filling into pan, smoothing it out into an even layer.
Transfer to oven and bake for 40 minutes or until set and tester comes out clean.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.
Pumpkin Pie Squares
5 / 5. 1
A buttery, pecan-studded shortbread base under a creamy, spiced pumpkin pie topping…
Looking for an easy twist on the classic pumpkin pie? Make our delicious PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES!
We know you’re here because, like us, you love PUMPKIN PIE. Seriously, what’s not to love about that creamy, spiced pumpkin custard partnered with a buttery crust? This recipe is an upgrade to that homemade pie, partnering pumpkin spice flavouring with an oat and pecan crust. We also streamlined the preparation, making it in a rectangular baking pan, so you can just serve it up as squares with little more than a dollop of whipped cream. Yup, these PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES are amazing.
Because these squares are so tasty, we suggest you PIN the recipe to a favourite dessert or baking board on PINTEREST or BOOKMARK this tab for easy access. SHARE it with friends so they can make it too. We’d also appreciate seeing pics of all the scrumptious baking you’re making these days. Use #weekendatthecottage when you post those pics on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks!
Here are some tips on making PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES:
INGREDIENTS
Good news, pumpkin pie lovers; everything needed to make this dessert recipe is available at your local supermarket. Unlike our HOMEMADE PUMPKIN PIE recipe that calls for oven-roasting a whole sugar pumpkin, this recipe is made with the canned variety. When purchasing the eggs and canned pumpkin, try to pick up organic options. They taste better.
BASE
The pastry, shortbread crust or pie crust base for these squares is made with butter, and as always, we used unsalted. Some of the other ingredients for the base might be unexpected, but boy, do they ever add a ton of flavour. The rolled oats and pecans contribute an awesome nuttiness, while the dark brown sugar adds caramel notes. We also added cinnamon and ground ginger into this mix to round out a very pleasing spiced, buttery pastry base.
There’s very little prep time thanks to zipping the base together using a food processor. Follow our lead and assemble the base in two parts – first zipping the flour, oats, sugar salt and spices together, then adding the butter and pecans. The initial processing finely chops the oats, while running the machine on low for the second part creates a loose dough. Then you just spill the dough into the pan and tamp it down into an even layer. Don’t forget to chill the dough as directed before baking it to a light golden colour. It’s an easy crust that tastes far superior to a graham cracker crust.
SPICES
During the shoot for this recipe, I realized I was out of ground cinnamon. Luckily, I had cinnamon sticks and an old coffee grinder handy, and with a quick zip, voilà, crisis averted. But the “ah-ha” moment came with my first bite when I realized using freshly ground spices made this homemade pumpkin pie spice mix a lot tastier and way more fragrant. So your marching orders are to try freshly grinding the spices for all your fall recipes. It works wonders with cinnamon, star anise, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom.
FILLING
Making the homemade pumpkin filling for these squares is also easy. We like to call recipes like this a one-bowl wonder. Simply place all of the ingredients into one large bowl and blend together. Then, pour it over the base and bake as directed.
Worth mentioning here, that the pumpkin pie filling for this recipe is sublime. During the testing, we started by using sweetened condensed milk, but that sent the sweetness off the charts, and not in a good way. Instead, we crafted the filling portion of the program using evaporated milk, eggs, freshly ground spices, brown sugar and then freshly grated ginger and lemon zest. It’s easy to eat these squares quickly, so remember to savour that smooth, flavourful filling.
BAKE
Our PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES recipe calls for a 40-minute total time, but since every oven is different, check for doneness at 35 minutes. How do you check if they’re done? Simply dip the tip of a small knife gently into the centre of the squares.
If it comes away clean, your squares are done. Give them time to cool down completely before cutting them into 12 or 18 squares. Of course, you can also cut this dessert into rectangular shapes to create easy pumpkin pie bars too!
SERVE
Adding a dollop of fresh whipped cream, plus a sprinkle of that freshly grated spice, is the way to go when serving. If making whipped cream from scratch, add a tiny sprinkle of granulated sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract. That’s it. Last thing about serving is yes, this recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas.
As good as they look, they taste even better. Try our PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES today!
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Prepare crust: Place flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, salt and spices in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Pulse a few times to chop oats and mix ingredients. Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl, followed by the pecans. Pulse to bring dough together. Transfer mixture to the pan, pressing down firmly with fingers to create an even layer over the bottom. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven until set but not brown. Remove from oven and set on wire rack to cool.
Prepare the filling: Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients for the filling together.
Pour filling into pan, smoothing it out into an even layer.
Transfer to oven and bake for 40 minutes or until set and tester comes out clean.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.
