You know you want some...

I took THESE to book club last week.

Yes. I do get out. I see real women at real GNOs. What book for book club?

I have no idea.

The grown up girly food froze my brain.

Apparently the deal is to OUT-do each other with the treats you bring to book club, and then no one will care that you didn't read the book, even though you claimed to have read it a hundred years ago in Jr. High. (Who would do that?)

There was this homemade 7layer dip with REAL guac in it. The kind where you walk away from the tray with 3/4ths of it on your plate, and go? Oops. How did SO much of that get on my plate? Oh well, no one wants to eat it if I put it back right?? So yeah, I ate all of that. AND another sweet mom there had gotten all Martha on us and brought these cute little puff balls of chocolate cupcakes with giant marshmallow heads and chunks of chocolate bars for garnish. (Literally. She used a Martha recipe she confessed. The little devil.)

Oh. And HOMEmade Hot chocolate. Did you even know you can MAKE hot chocolate? As in NOT from a metallic packet? Yeah, and whipped cream with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

After all that?
So much for my now not -so-amazing:

Chocolate Cheesecake Pumpkin Bars

Just in case you'd like to try these? (And there were one or two--or 18-- twitter friends who said they did....) The recipe seems intimidating. But so did Twitter at first right? It's easy, just follow in steps. (And USE parchment paper...many a frickin swear word avoided via Parchment.)

CRUST

2.5 C Graham Crackers--crushed
1/2 C Sugar
1 C Melted Butter
--mix well and set aside

FILLING

3) 8 oz PKGS. Cream Cheese (softened)
2 2/3 C Sugar
4 Eggs
1 1/2 C Pureed Canned Pumpkin
3/4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
3/4 tsp. Vanilla
1/4+ tsp. Salt
--6 Oz. chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
3 Tbls. Butter

TOPPING

2 C Sour Cream (yes the real stuff)
1/3 C Sugar

There are 4 layers total. So we'll have 4 steps to get to those layers, eh?

Step One:

Lightly grease 15x9 pan for crust (here's where the parchment comes in handy, I spray the parchment a bit!) Press cracker mixture in the bottom and set aside.

PreHeat oven to 325 degrees

Step Two:

Filling. In large bowl beat together cream cheese & sugar. Add eggs one at a time on low speed. Stir in the pumpkin, spice, vanilla & salt.
---Pour 2 Cups of this Pumpkin mixture into another bowl and set both bowls aside. (There's a lot of asides in this.)

Step Three:

In small saucepan over very low heat melt chips and butter while stirring. Remove from heat. Add the reserved 2 cups filling to this chocolate-y mixture. Stir till smooth.

Spread the chocolate/pumpkin batter carefully over the graham crust. Bake for 15 min. Remove from oven and slowly pour the other bowl of filling over this partially cooked chocolate layer. Bake another 40-50 minutes. Until the edges slightly puff up and the center is set. (Don't over cook, a little wiggle-y in the middle is fine.) Remove from oven and cool for 30 min.

Step Four:

Topping. Meanwhile, combine sour cream and 1/4 C sugar and let stand until cheesecake pan is cool. Then spread sour cream mixture over filling. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Keep refrigerated.

Cut into squares and then cut squares into diagonals for the Martha factor.
I honestly can't remember where I came across this recipe. So if' it's your great aunt Edna's tell her I'm sorry for stealing it?

Oh. And this makes a ton. Taking half the pan into your husband's office tends to get lots of ...ahem...cheesecake points. (Ask me how I know.)

.

~Am on a quest for other great Pumpkin Recipes... Send me yours and I'll link them here:

Connie Has TWO pumpkin breads for you!