Here’s a confession: I’m really bad at making pie crust. I’ve tried just about everything — all-butter, all-shortening, half and half, the food processor method, the pastry cutter thing, bare hands — only to end up with something slightly too dry/too gooey/rolls out funny/holes in it. What’s a girl to do when she has to feed a horde of Thanksgiving guests expecting pumpkin pie for dessert?

Fortunately, a simple shortbread dough covers a multitude of sins (and appetites). My pumpkin bar recipe combines a traditional pumpkin pie filling with a buttery, slightly sweet crust. It’s really easy and takes considerably less time than a pie since the pumpkin layer is thinner and the crust doesn’t require chilling and rolling. You can use that extra time for your own chilling and rolling, whatever that means to you.

Pumpkin Bars

Serves 16-24.

For the shortbread:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together butter, confectioners’ sugar, and flour until well blended. Press mixture into the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ glass baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.

For the pumpkin filling:

1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of ground nutmeg

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all ingredients until well combined. Remove shortbread crust from oven. Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees. Pour pumpkin filling evenly over hot crust and return to oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely, cut into bars, and serve with whipped cream.