Pumpkin Caramel Blondies

Hi fellow lovers of Shel’s Kitchen!  My name is Cori, otherwise known to the little people in my life as CoCo!  Speaking of my life and the little people in it… I am the luckiest wife in the world to an amazing husband with two fan-TASTIC kids!  Caleb who is 8 and Ava who is 6!  I know you can’t see them, but they are just lovely, can’t you tell?  Ok, at this point you may be wondering why am I reading about this lady?  And WHERE’S SHEL?  No worries!  Shel asked me to guest blog for her during this week of pumpkin recipes!  Number one reason, I LOVE SWEETS!  It’s my downfall.  Plain. And. Simple.  Ok, sweets and French fries!  Secondly, I love to bake!  It’s so relaxing!  Lastly, Shel is my guinea pig most of the time and she tells me it’s good!  And I think that’s enough to qualify me!  Alrighty, on to the lovely dessert I have for you today. Pumpkin Caramel Blondies (gf version)!  They are GOOD!  So good that Shel had no idea they were gluten free until I told her!  She was a-mazed!!  And the best thing is you can just swap it out for regular all-purpose flour using the same amount!  How easy is that? You’ll definitely want to give these a try!!  It was so nice to meet you and I hope we can chat again soon!

Pumpkin Caramel Blondies (adapted from willcookforsmiles.com)

3 eggs

1/2 c. Greek yogurt (I used Dannon Oikos Vanilla 0% fat)

1 1/2 c. pumpkin puree

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 c. gluten free all purpose flour (I used Trader Joe's - feel free to use regular all purpose flour instead.  It uses the same amount!)

1/2 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla extract

1/4 t. salt

1 c. caramel bits

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs, Greek yogurt and brown sugar until combined.  Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla and whisk until thoroughly combined. In a smaller bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.  Now the good part... fold in the caramel bits!! Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 40 minutes. I would suggest checking the bars at the 35 minute mark by doing a toothpick test to check for doneness.  Bake for an additional 5 minutes, if necessary. Cut into bars once cooled.  Enjoy!

24 servings (109 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com