Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

Last month, a friend from high school posted a link to Martha Stewart's recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares on Facebook, and yesterday I decided to give them a try. If you are like me, you are overcome by the urge to have the aroma of pumpkin goodies, wafting from your kitchen during the month of October. Why is that? I really don't know the answer, but it has caused me to make pumpkin muffins, scones, pancakes, waffles, etc. at an alarming rate this fall. I suppose that maybe it is just comforting, when the leaves change and the temperature drops.

I'm going to go ahead and call this "cake", rather than squares, as the recipe produces a very light cake with a delicate crumb. For me, squares or bars are much more dense, but I digress.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (I made a very slight adjustment here by using 1 cup all-purpose, and one cup whole wheat pastry flour)

1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. Spray the foil lightly with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes (mine was done at 35 minutes exactly). Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.