This post brought to you by Libby’s. All opinions are 100% mine.

Yes, I do realize it’s April.  I am sharing a pumpkin recipe in spring time.  Crazy, right?  Actually, not so crazy.  Pumpkin works all year round (and it freezes well, so you can totally stock up when it goes on sale in fall in whatever form you prefer and use it when you feel like it!)

Plus, without the wonderful that is pumpkin, how could I share this Pumpkin S’mores Bar Recipe with you?

Pumpkin S’mores Bars Recipe

Ingredients

½ C. butter or margarine

1 can of Canned Pumpkin(15 oz.)

½ cup milk

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 C. of Graham crackers (any brand), crushed (about 11 squares, see photo)

Approximately 12 graham cracker squares (you may need 1-2 more if using a larger baking dish)

2 C. mini marshmallows

8 oz. chocolate chips

9×9 or 8×8 baking dish (I lined mine with foil for easy clean up)

 Directions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees

#1. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, ½ C. milk, cinnamon and 15 oz. of Libby’s pumpkin, heat on low.

#2. In a large Ziploc type bag crush the graham crackers using a  Rolling pin. Add them to the pumpkin mixture in the saucepan.

#3. While the pumpkin mixture is heating through lay your 12 graham cracker squares on the bottom of your baking dish. You may need to split a few squares in half to make them fit.

#4. Remove the pumpkin mixture from the stove and spread ½ of the mixture on top of the graham cracker squares using a spatula. Sprinkle 1 C. of the mini marshmallows and ½ of your chocolate chips on top.

#5. Repeat step #4 – you will end up with 2 layers.

#6. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 5 minutes – keeping an eye on it. The marshmallows will turn a nice golden brown color. Remove from oven and let cool in the fridge to ‘set’. Wait about 1 hour before cutting.

*Makes 16 squares. 1 square = 1 serving.

Pumpkin is a superfood. Pumpkin adds extra fiber and Vitamin A to recipes. It’s packed with Beta Carotene. It can be used to replace the fat in some recipes and cut the amount of sodium per serving in others. When used as a replacement for butter, eggs or oil it can also reduce calories. It can be incorporated in breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and beverages – all that taste great.

We’ve all heard about superfoods for a while now.  Pumpkin has a lot of benefits that make it part of the superfood team- it’s a good source of fiber (we ALL need fiber) and a great source for Vitamin A.  You can use it to replace fat in some recipes, and you can also use it in sauces to lower sodium amounts.

Pumpkins are a pretty sneaky vegetable.  They can go sweet but they can also go savory.  You can feature the pumpkin flavor and create your recipes around pumpkin, or you can “tuck” it into other recipes to get the added benefits of pumpkin and not have the dish be all about the pumpkin.

Love pumpkin recipes? How to make a Meal in a Pumpkin!