Pumpkins and Kisses Blondies

I'm on a mission to use up the bountiful pumpkin harvest we had this fall.  Every time someone comes over I try to fob off a few, because my freezer is full and there's no way we can possibly use all of these little guys up.

In the meantime I'm baking pumpkins left and right.  I pinned this recipe the other day, and used it as my inspiration for these fall-inspired blondies.  I don't really get into all of the recipes that heap candy after cookie after chocolate chip into a single recipe, but I knew with some refining they had promise.

They did.

WOW.

Amazing!  I'll be immodest here and say I made a production of patting myself on the back when we dug into these.  They were genious!

Here's the play-by-play: 

I grabbed up a pumpkin off of my front porch, washed it, cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, roasted the halves until the flesh was soft, scooped out the flesh from the rind and mashed the flesh.  If you don't have a baking pumpkin on your porch, just grab a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree.

While you're scooping and mashing, put butter and the sugars into your KitchenAid and let it whip for a good five minutes so it's light and fluffy.

Add the other wet and dry ingredients for the blondies, and then this happens.

Pumpkin Spice Kisses.  Oh yeah.  Mmmm-hmmmm! Seasonal Kisses.  I'm partial to the mint ones at Christmas time, but these definitely come in a close second.  They get chopped up into big pieces and added to the dough with some chopped pecans.

 
About 2/3 of the dough gets baked for ten minutes in a 9 x 13 cake pan, and then a whole bag of caramels, melted with some evaporated milk, gets poured on top.  That caramel-y goodness is topped with the other 1/3 of the dough.  Like a pumpkin blondie sandwich.  

Definitely my kind of sandwich.  The texture is just like a super good brownie--thick and chewy--with bright cinnamony-sweet kicks from the Kisses and nutty goodness from the pecans.  The pumpkin pie flavor brings it all together.  It's so good.  

And you could always do this to it, too.

  
So stop in at my place and pick up a pumpkin (or five).  Then dash to the store to pick up a package of Pumpkin Spice Kisses (or five).  You won't be sorry you did.  (And neither will I).

Pumpkin and Kisses Blondies
Adapted from Loaded Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup softened (not melted) butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mashed pumpkin (or a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree)
30 Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses, chopped
2 oz pecans, chopped
1 bag (11 oz) caramels
1/3 cup evaporated milk

Prepare the pumpkin if you are using a baking pumpkin.  If you aren't, skip that step.  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixer, vigorously beat the butter and sugars for about five minutes, until it is light and creamy.  Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla, beating until well incorporated.  In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.  Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until combined.  Add the chopped Pumpkin Spice Kisses and pecans, then gently mix until combined.  

Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread 2/3 of the dough in the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes.  While that is baking, unwrap the caramels into a glass bowl and add the evaporated milk.  Microwave the caramels for a minute, then stir.  Microwave in additional increments of 30 seconds, removing the caramels when they are melted.  Pour the melted caramels over the brownie batter and allow it to sit for about five minutes to firm up a bit.  Then blob (yep blob) the remaining 1/3 of the dough evenly over the top of the caramel.  Spread gently so you don't disrupt the caramel.  Bake for another 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow the blondies to cool.  Then enjoy!