The Scent of Charred Pumpkin Bars

Madison and I have to be in attendance at our church's youth group table at the local harvest festival tomorrow.  Pastor Paul asked me to bring a pan of bars and 3 pounds of sloppy joe's.  Sure, no problem.  I like to bake and cook, so no biggie!

The kids and I got home from the library today where Madison and Thomas were each doing research for their compositions.  I sent the kids out to play in this glorious weather and began to bake.  I made a double batch of pumpkin bars; one for the church youth group and one for us.  They were a gorgeous shade of autumnal orange and the scent of them baking enveloped the house in an aura of Martha Stewart. 

My oven tends to cook a little on the hot side, so I always reduce baking time, which I did today.  Sadly I burned the hell out of both pans of bars.  The heavenly scent of baking pumpkin bars dissipated in a noxious cloud of charcoal when I opened the oven door.  I guess the smell of burning bars always lures kids back inside where they greeted me with their lovely sentiments of "Gross, what stinks?" and "Yuck who's cooking firewood?" I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids, at least that's what I'm telling myself right now.

The kitchen widows are open now in an effort to air out the offending smell.  I am sure that even the neighbor 1/3 mile away can smell the mistake now.  Honestly, I don't know why the oven cooked them so quickly, but what I do know is that I will be venturing back into the kitchen in an effort to redeem myself and my ability to make basic pumpkin bars.  Crap!  I hate it when I make the boo boo and can't blame it on one of the kids!