Pumpkin Caramel Bars with Bacon

This recipe from the blog the Noble Pig is a fun idea, but the recipe itself is not without some issues. A little doctoring on my part made this unique recipe fabulous. As for the bars, past experience has made me know that one teaspoon of baking soda is not enough power to lift 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree. That's just 1/4 cup short of a full can and I added two extra teaspoons and another 1/2 teaspoon salt. My bars turned out decidedly more cake-like than the Pig's, but were still plenty moist.

As for the frosting, I just couldn't get it to fluff up no matter how long I left the mixer on. So I added two cups of powdered sugar to give it some density and one teaspoon maple flavoring to give it more taste. The results tasted great. The bacon is wonderful  and crisp the first day, but after that it gets kinda chewy and flavorless. Not that it stopped the Hub, Andrew, Karen and I from eating them.