Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I recently went to Utah for two weeks during the kids Fall break and among many things I enjoyed an extensive food tour of all my favorite places: JCW's (twice), Zupa's, Cafe Rio, Chuck-A-Rama (that was for my Grandparents), Pei Wei's, and a yummy tapa restaurant, Eva's, in Salt Lake. I also helped myself to peach cobbler, BYU mint brownies, BYU ice cream, Costco cake, more brownies, and Smart Cookies laying around the house. So of course I came home feeling a little heavy and recommitted to eating more healthy. I am proud to say I did so for 3 days! Then the unexpected happened. It snowed. And really is anyone expected to diet while it's snowing? I think not. You're suppose to stay inside, watch the snow fall, and bake delicious food. In this case, being October, I felt a pumpkin dessert was the perfect reward to my 3 days of eating animal crackers instead of all the fall desserts I wanted. I collected this recipe from a favorite site, www.twopeasandtheirpod.com

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. With a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture will look somewhat curdled. Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake bars for 35-40 minutes or 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.

4. Cool bars completely in pan. Cut into squares and serve.