While I love to make most of my baked goods from scratch, I freely admit to loving the seasonal baking kits that go on sale in the fall at H-E-B.

I stock my pantry with the Pumpkin Spice baking mix – it is a versatile mix that can be used for bars, pancakes and waffles. While the mix is simple to use and requires no more than oil, water and eggs – I usually do make some changes for my own use.

For a yummy pumpkin spice bar, I use one package of the H-E-B mix. In my stand up mixer, I combine 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup oil (I use grapeseed oil) and 2 egg equivalents.

Any egg replacer will do but for this recipe I used two flax eggs – 2 Tbsp ground flax meal whisked with 4 Tbsp warm water.

I then mixed in the entire mix packet, 1 cup canned pumpkin and finally 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The package calls for using a 9 x 9 inch baking dish, but I used an 8 x 8 inch dish – I figured this size difference along with the higher moisture content due the canned pumpkin would add several minutes to my bake time.

After spraying the inside of the baking dish with oil (I used avocado oil for this purpose), I added the mixture and baked at 350 degrees F for 22 minutes. I then checked for done-ness and added an additional five minutes to my cook time.

I let cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.

If you are lucky enough to live in an area with H-E-B (it’s a Texas chain), I highly recommend these mixes, along with the Pumpkin Spice bread mix. Even folks like me who love from-scratch cooking can take advantage of packaged mixes when we find something we like!