Photos of these bars simple do not do them justice. I am in love with this recipe for Pumpkin Bars with Chai Caramel and Cardamom Crumble, and it’s only ONE week into fall. We have so many other stellar fall recipes to get to!
But the reason I love these bars is tenfold. ONE – I modeled them after my viral pumpkin cookie recipe, just 2.0, so you already know they are going to be good. TWO – the texture??? Is insane?? The pumpkin bars are dense, while the caramel is the perfect amount of chewy, and the crumble on top is light and butter and crisp. It keeps your mouth guessing in the best possible way. And THREE – the flavors taste like crispy autumn weather and falling leaves and Halloween all combined. It’s a fall miracle, and my new favorite pumpkin dessert (sorry, cookies!)
Table of contents
- Ingredients you will need for the pumpkin bars
- How to prepare this pumpkin dough
- The best way to spread out the pumpkin bar dough
- How to make the cardamom crumble for these pumpkin bars with chai caramel
- Baking both of these elements together
- Ingredients you will need for the chai caramel
- How to make caramel that stays chewy
- The best way to assemble these pumpkin bars with chai caramel
- The best way to store these bars
- FAQ
- Watch the recipe here
Ingredients you will need for the pumpkin bars
The base of this recipe is a dense, chewy pumpkin bar that kind of mimics a chocolate chip cookie cake – just swap the chocolate chips for pumpkin flavor! What I like is it is a simple dough, here is what you will need for it:
- 1/2 cup salted butter, softened, 113 grams – You can also let this soften in the stand mixer as you mix, I’m not picky!
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 100 grams
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed, 50 grams
- 1/3 cup pumpkin purée, 75 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, 140 grams
How to prepare this pumpkin dough
This dough is your typical cookie dough formula – add the wet ingredients (read: butter, sugars, pumpkin) to a mixer and mix until fluffy. Then pop in the cinnamon, baking powder, salt and flour and mix until combined. The dough is quick, especially if you are using a stand mixer!
The best way to spread out the pumpkin bar dough
This dough is sticky, and that’s due to the high amount of pumpkin in it! This makes it a little tricky to spread into the pan, so here are a few tricks:
TIP #1 – Add a bit of butter to the corners of your baking dish before putting down the parchment paper. This helps the parchment not stick!
TIP #2 – Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough balls evenly across, which will make spreading the dough evenly with a spatula a much easier task!
How to make the cardamom crumble for these pumpkin bars with chai caramel
Now that the pumpkin dough is done, it’s time for the crumble. Here is all you will need for it:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 70 grams
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 28 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 3 tablespoons salted butter chilled, 42 grams
A crumble is a tricky process, because it is very much done by feel. First, you need to whisk together the flour, sugar, and cardamom. Then cube in the chilled butter.
After this, making a crumble is very much like making a pie crust, except you stop before everything is fully combined. Pinch the butter into the dry ingredients, tossing it in the flour every now and then so the butter is fully coated. It will feel like there isn’t enough butter for it to come together, but keep working! Soon you will get a texture like the bowl above, which is what we are looking for with this crumble!
Baking both of these elements together
What is nice about this recipe is the pumpkin bars and the cardamom crumble bake at the same time.
Set the pumpkin bars on the top rack and bake them for 20 minutes, then set the crumble on the bottom rack during the last ten minutes.
You want the pumpkin bars to look like the photo above, and the crumble to look like the photo below.
And now it’s time to move onto the chai caramel!
Ingredients you will need for the chai caramel
Caramel is a simple process that too many people think is intimidating. Simply not true! (I promise)
Here is everything you will need for the caramel:
- 1/3 cup chai concentrate (I use Tazo as the brand), 88 grams
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 250 grams
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, 28 grams
- 1/3 cup heavy cream, 85 grams
How to make caramel that stays chewy
The key to this caramel is the amount of butter and heavy cream we add AFTER the sugar has caramelized. The more butter and cream, the chewier and meltier your caramel will be.
There are a few important things to remember as you are making a caramel:
TIP #1 – You are boiling sugar until it gets a shade darker, and it can be so easy to stop too soon! Don’t be that person. Let your sugar get to the point of smoking. It will smell like a toasted marshmallow and taste even better.
TIP #2 – From there, do not fear whisking in the butter and heavy cream. It will seize up for a few seconds, but then turn into a chewy, caramely texture.
The best way to assemble these pumpkin bars with chai caramel
I like to let the pumpkin bars and cardamom crumble get out of the oven before I even start the caramel. And that’s because the bars need a bit of time to *chill out* before a hot caramel gets poured over them, you know?
Once the bars are cool enough to touch (they can still be a bit warm, we aren’t perfectionists here), pour the caramel directly into the center. This will make it so that the caramel pours over the edges as little as possible, and that will make your bars easier to release when it’s time!
From there, pop this into the fridge so the caramel can set for 30 minutes.
After the caramel has set, but still has a bit of give to it, crumble the cardamom crumble over the top. Finish with flaky salt, because these bars are RICH.
The best way to store these bars
This is important – The best way to store these bars is in the fridge. I recommend slicing them right before serving. They can hang out at room temperature, but the fridge keeps them chewy without letting them get sticky. Which is a classic caramel thing to happen!
FAQ
Absolutely! I love storing these in the fridge after I’ve made them. They will keep for up to four days, and be pretty delicious on day 4!
You can absolutely use water if that’s all that you have! You’ll lose a bit of spice, but the caramel will still be delicious.
These bars keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days. I’ve had luck freezing them for 2 months, just make sure to thaw them by popping them in the fridge!
And that’s it for these Pumpkin Bars with Chai Caramel!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Watch the recipe here
The video may not fully represent the recipe. For best results, follow the instructions as written.
Pumpkin Bars with Chai Caramel & Cardamom Crumble
Equipment
- 1 Hand mixer or stand mixer
- 1 8 by 8-inch baking dish
- 1 half sheet pan
- 2 sheets of parchment paper
- 1 Small Pot
- 1 thermometer not mandatory, but helpful!
Ingredients
For the pumpkin bars
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened, 113 grams
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed 50 grams
- 1/3 cup pumpkin purée 75 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 140 grams
For the cardamom crumble
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 70 grams
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 28 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 3 tablespoons salted butter chilled, 42 grams
For the chai caramel
- 1/3 cup chai concentrate (I use Tazo as the brand) 88 grams
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar 250 grams
- 2 tablespoons salted butter 28 grams
- 1/3 cup heavy cream 85 grams
For topping
- 1 teaspoon flaky salt
Instructions
- Evenly stagger two racks in the oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Make the pumpkin bars. Using either a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat together the 113 grams of butter, 100 grams granulated sugar, 50 grams brown sugar, and 75 grams of pumpkin. Mix on medium-high until fluffy and combined.
- Add in the 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix again. Add in the 140 grams of all-purpose flour and mix on the lowest setting until just combined.
- Line an 8 by 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Use a cookie scoop to evenly scoop the dough across the pan, then use a spatula to smooth it into an even layer. It is sticky, but try to get it as even as possible! Set this aside.
- Next, make the cardamom crumble. In a medium bowl, whisk together the 70 grams of all-purpose flour, the 28 grams of granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom. Cube in the 42 grams of chilled butter.
- Using your hands, toss the butter to get coated in the flour. Then start pressing the butter into pieces, tossing to coat it in the flour as you go. As the butter breaks apart, it will start forming a crumble. It may feel dry at first, but keep smashing the butter in with your fingers and you'll start to see clumps form.
- Transfer the crumble to a parchment-lined half sheet pan.
- Bake the pumpkin bars on the top rack of the oven for 20 minutes, add the crumble to the bottom rack for the last 10 minutes. Remove when the pumpkin bars are dry but not golden, and the crumble is just lightly golden at the edges. Set these aside to cool at room temperature.
- While the bars and crumble are cooling, prepare the caramel.
- Mix together the 88 grams of chai concentrate and 250 grams of granulated sugar in a medium pot. Swirl to combine. Set this pot over high heat and let it come to a robust boil. Do not stir during this time. Let it boil until it starts to let off whisps of smoke and smell like a toasted marshmallow (about 5-6 minutes). This will be obvious when it happens, so if you're wondering if you are there yet – trust me, you aren't there yet!
- Once you see the smoke whisps, immediately remove the caramel from the heat and whisk in the 28 grams of butter. Very carefully pour in the 85 grams of heavy cream and whisk (it will let off some steam!).
- Place the pot back over LOW heat and gently stir until the caramel comes up to 245°F. Then remove from the heat.
- Now it's time to assemble. Once the pumpkin bars are cool enough to touch the tray, pour the caramel directly into the CENTER of the bars. Let it naturally spread to the sides, although you can ease it to the corners with a spatula if you'd like. This is to prevent it from pouring over the edges and getting your bars stuck in the tray. Let this cool for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- After the caramel has cooled, sprinkle the crumble over the top. Finish with a sprinkle of flaky salt. These will sink into the caramel.
- Chill in the fridge for 5-7 hours or until the bars are set. Then, you can remove the bars, slice into 16 pieces, and serve!
- Important note: These are best stored in the fridge. I recommend taking them out right before slicing and serving!
Long time fan (can’t wait for your book)! Was just wondering if I could sub coconut oil, in the bar itself, for a dairy free option? I know the crumble could, but would definitely alter texture, just curious!
Hello! For the pumpkin base, coconut oil should also work, just make sure it’s solid before you mix it with the sugar + pumpkin 🙂 another dairy free option would be miyokos, but I know that’s not preferable. Do you have a plan for the caramel?
I was coming in with the same question – I have no fears re: subbing dairy-free butter products, but the caramel makes me nervous! I’m thinking about a dairy-free cream product like the ones made by Silk or Califa Farms? Or barista-style oat milk, which is always a little thicker, but reducing the quantity from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup to account for how thin the liquid is compared to actual heavy cream?
I wish I could say I’m a dairy free expert but I can’t confirm how the sub will react with something as picky as a caramel! I’ll ask some of my vegan baking friends for their hacks and will do my best to report back <3
Following up on the dairy-free subs! I wanted to make these for a Rosh HaShanah meal where meat would be served, so they needed to be dairy-free since my friends and I keep kosher. I used Earth Balance sticks for the butter (my go-to for anything where butter isn’t a central flavor) and tried Silk’s dairy-free heavy cream product for caramel for the first time.
The bars and crumble were easy to sub, but the caramel was trickier. The dairy-free caramel set much harder and faster in the fridge than I anticipated based on the recipe, so I actually ended up sticking the assembled bars in a recently turned off and cooling oven for about 10 minutes to warm the caramel enough that the crumble would properly stick, then put the whole tray back in the fridge. I found that when refrigerated, the dairy-free caramel got almost unpleasantly hard. However, by keeping them at room temp, I got a great texture on the caramel, and everything was delicious.
Folks who need to make this without dairy: I might try cooking the caramel to a slightly lower temp (135-140 instead of 145) and would recommend taking them out of the fridge much early before serving than if you’re using dairy.
Wow! Justine, this dessert is incredible. I made for a dinner with my parents. My mom said it’s the best dessert she’s ever had. The chai caramel sends it! I think the instructions are easy enough to follow to make this intermediate bake beginner-friendly! Thank you for sharing.
So SO happy you liked it!
Do you NEED NEED a candy thermometer for the caramel, or can you sort of play it by sight?
(Also wanted to say that I rarely am as inspired by food creators as I am by you and your recipes (Sweet potato cake! Lemon caramel! Brothy beans!). I’m so pumped to receive your pre-ordered book!)
Hi! Okay, I don’t use a candy thermometer, just a probe one. So if you have that maybe that will work? Also thank you so much for pre-ordering the cookbook, it means more than you know!
These are currently cooling in the fridge so I have yet to taste them but I’m very excited! A few takeaways
1. As always I LOVE how you write your recipes to include the amounts of everything again in the steps. Thank you for not making scroll up and down and up and down to double check the ingredients list for measurements. It’s just write there in the step.
2. I really hope these turn out amazing because the stickiness of the batter *almost* makes me never want to make this again. I’m already trying to figure out if I can just make cookies instead to avoid all that. Not your fault, but man that’s was the worst step of the whole recipe
3. For those that are new to caramel, I found mine stalled for a long time at 220f before climbing again to 245. I don’t know if that was a fluke but if your caramel stalls just keep waiting! It’ll get there.
Thanks as always Justine!
All good notes! I will say, the sticky dough gets me, too! I’ve started using a cookie scoop to scoop it into the edges first, then along the tin, so that it’s *kind of* easier to spread. Just in case you make them another time! <3
1. As always I LOVE how you write your recipes to include the amounts of everything again in the steps. Thank you for not making scroll up and down and up and down to double check the ingredients list for measurements. It’s just write there in the step.
Couldn’t agree more with this!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Mine also stalled (at 223) for a really long time. I eventually turned the stove up a bit and that easily got me to the desired temp-I probably needed to use a different size burner.
Can I substitute chai concentrate somehow? It’s not available where I live 🙁
Hi Nika! We’ve had other commenters be kind enough to test it with strongly brewed chai tea, and it worked out for them well! I think that’s a great sub for the concentrate.
I had Chai tea bags so first I made a strong concentrate. Then, followed everything you said to do (of course) and celebrated by bday with these tasty chilled treats! Of course I had to share with party goers ( but it was hard to). Another JS winner!
so SO glad you liked it, and great to know that sub works! Thank you for taking the time to come back and review it!
for the chair concentrate, is it chai latte concentrate? what brand do you use?
I use Tazo! It’s the concentrate used for lattes, but there is no milk in the concentrate, if that makes sense!
These were AMAZING! My kitchen smelled like fall and everyone that tried one raved!
YAY this is music to my ears!!
Hi Making these now! Wondering why you added the cream and butter before bringing sugar up to temp like regular caramel recipe? Trying to learn more about caramel since it can be finicky!! It’s smelling great!!
Hello! Oddly enough, this is the only way I’ve been taught to make caramel that works! I haven’t followed other recipes that add the cream while the sugar is boiling, but I’ll do some research on the method, it sounds interesting!
Does the type of cardamom matter? Also, just in case it’s hard for me to find, is there a Substitute for cardamom that you can recommend?
Cinnamon or all spice are great subs! And you’ll want to use ground cardamom, but any color 🙂
I made a version of this using my favorite caramel recipe and LOVED it. I don’t have a thermometer and have always made caramel by eye, so I didn’t want to use tea because its dark color would make me unable to tell when the sugar had browned enough to take it off the heat. I infused the cream with chai mix to give the chai flavor and it came out amazing! Highly recommend this approach if you don’t have a thermometer handy 🙂
Hi! I made these this afternoon and they look delicious, can’t wait to try! The caramel is the part that gave me the most trouble—I left it boiling for about ten minutes before I got nervous and took it off, without ever seeing the wisps of smoke. As a result, it looks way lighter than yours and I’m thinking it won’t have the pull. Any further tips for how long to leave the sugar and chai boiling before adding the butter? And are there any visual cues it’s gotten to 245 on the second round if we don’t have a candy thermometer? Thanks so much!
Ok so the first time I made caramel the EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED. I was making a Zoe Francios recipe (this was forever ago) and I was too scared to let the caramel smoke. What happened was my caramel came out beige and didn’t set. The point of this long story is that you really, really need the smoke to happen. And trust me, you’ll know when it happens! After that, you’re sugar will be in the proper place to set after you add the butter and caramel, so even if you don’t have a thermometer, you can let it boil for a few minutes, and then it will be golden and good to go <3
I had this same problem with the caramel! Is there a temperature to aim for with the first boil? I cooked it up to 245 after adding the butter and cream, but it’s grainy and light in color and didn’t foam up at all when I added the cream. I’m planning to try again on Thursday!
Hi Leslie! Like I said to the other commenter, caramel IS tricky, but don’t give up! Don’t be afraid to crank the heat up high, and you MUST get it to where it is giving off whisps of smoke. I don’t give a temperature because it can range, and the visual cue is the cue you really need. If you don’t see smoke whisps, it’s not ready!
I did it! Successful caramel! You’re right it really was obvious when it started smoking. Thanks for the help and encouragement! Can’t wait to share it on a girls trip this weekend ☺️
This recipe was so good. I didn’t have the time to let it rest so it was ooey and gooey yuminess. My entire family commented on how much they loved it. I was going to skip cardamom (and replace for Cinnamon) but it gave the dessert a nice balance. Will make again!
I’m wondering if anyone can help me figure out why my attempt to make these was an epic fail? I weighed all the ingredients and methodically followed all the directions. The caramel layer is fine, but the crumble turned into find dust mostly and fell off the caramel, even though it says to let the caramel cool before adding the crumble on top. The cookie base, seems very tasteless…but maybe my round pan was slightly larger than the 8″ sq specified and that made it hard to taste all the goodness…very disappointed and would love to know how others got good sized crumbles that didn’t fall off the caramel, especially after refrigerating overnight.
Hi Kathy! I am also surprised by this! Usually the caramel is what gives people trouble, so kudos for getting past the hard part! As for the crumble, I have a few ideas as to what went wrong. This crumble needs to be worked with your hands for a bit of time before the butter starts mixing into the crumble and the big clumps start to form. You have to do a few big pinches with your hands to get to those clumps. It starts dry, so hearing that it was dust for you just means it needed a bit more mixing! As for the base, did you use the cinnamon and salt? Pumpkin itself is a mild flavor, so it really needs those two elements. Otherwise, the bar isn’t supposed to be super sweet, because then it would send you into a sugar frenzy paired with the caramel and crumble! Hope this helps, and happy baking!
The base is pretty mild in flavor compared to the caramel (I like it that way), but I also added a couple hands full of chocolate chips to the base which was a nice flavorful touch. The crumble sort of reminded me of Kinetic Sand, in that it stayed in the shapes you put it in. So after I worked it a long time I made teeny, tiny handfuls that formed clumps that I could sort of break into desired pebbles for baking. As for the crumble falling off, I also had that problem. Next time don’t let it cool the full 30 minutes before sprinkling it on. I put mine in our drinks fridge to cool (which is temperamental and has been know to freeze lettuce or the occasional soft drink when relatively empty), because of this I only left it in 20 minutes before I sprinkled, but even that was too long in my fridge as the caramel was fairly semi-set already so I had to manually push the crumble in in some areas, next time I’ll wait only 7-10 minutes-on the plus side I didn’t have to wait 5 hours before cutting!
These flavors are incredible! Wow! The only thing that I’m struggling with is the pumpkin bars. No matter how much I bake them (25-30 minutes even), they stay a sticky fudge consistency. I keep making them because the flavors and everyone loves them, but I think the bottom would be better more baked (similar to a shortbread). I tried an oven thermometer and that isn’t it either.
Hi Ryan, thank you for leaving a review! This is a bummer to hear about the base, but I assure you I designed it to cook through but still have a chocolate-chip-cookie texture! I hate asking this because most people do, but did you measure the ingredients by weight? That will usually help swap out any issues. The other issue I could see is if you used homemade pumpkin, which tends to have a higher water content, because they should look pretty dry and puffed on top when you take them out! Either way, I’m glad you enjoyed the flavors, and thank you for coming with respectful and kind critiques!
Found my way here via your TikTok, which I have been following for a long time! These turned out beautifully. I audibly went “OH” when I smelled the toasted marshmellow smell on the chai & sugar! Huge hit!
So SO glad you liked it!!