How about something sweet?

So before I talk about food, I should talk about where I am today.    Just this week, I have noticed a huge change in my energy levels and what I am able to do at the gym.    In our workout with our trainer, Moses, this weekend, there were substantial changes from where I was on January 1.   I was able to hold the planks a lot longer and was able to do some things I didn't think I could do - box jumps, while a bit scary, felt really good once I managed to do them.    I noticed too, that it's much easier to get up off of the floor and today on the elliptical, I was able to go harder for longer.     I'm down 16 pounds and I am feeling great!  

My kids have been bugging me to make something sweet.     Something that I love but never make is a pumpkin roll.  It just looks too time intensive for me.    So when I found this recipe, I knew I had to try it and did today.  

Pumpkin Roll Bars
from here: 

Ingredients:

Cake
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin 
1/4 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and water until well blended.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin/butter mixture and combine until well blended. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the pumpkin batter. Dollop the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese batter and spread out as evenly as possible.  Use a table knife to swirl together the cream cheese and top layer of pumpkin batter.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center of the pumpkin batter springs back when touched. Cool completely in pan, then cut into bars.

My notes:     I did this just as written.    The sugar and butter did not get "creamy" but I just added the other ingredients and it came out really good.