Flour Is More "Matte", Powdered Sugar Is More "Semi-Gloss".

Whenever we have holidays with my in-laws, we always stay at their house for a few days, even though we live in the same town. It's kind of like a little getaway, plus, it's the early mornings and late nights together that make the best memories, you know? So. Anyway. I was put in charge of pumpkin bars this year, so on Wednesday, I set about preparing my treats in my mother-in-law's kitchen.

I assembled everything--the cloves, the powder, the soda, the nutmeg, the ginger, etc.--and was juuuuuust about to put it in the oven when I noticed that the pumpkin bars weren't very orange. Hmm. I looked up and saw the sealed can of pumpkin sitting next to the Kitchen Aid mixer.

Oops.

So, I dumped the contents of my pumpkin-less pumpkin bars into the mixing bowl, added the pumpkin, mixed it up, and popped it in the oven. About ten minutes later, I peeked into the oven to see it overflowing and making a gooey, bubbling mess on the bottom of my mother-in-law's new oven. GREAT. I freaked out and yanked it out of the oven (thankfully remembering to put on oven mitts first) and stared at the soupy, gooey mess in my 13x9 pan. WHAT IN THE WORLD. I've made this recipe twice before and NEVER has this happened! I cleaned up the mess and finished baking them (no more boiling over) and after they cooled, I covered the top with homemade cream cheese frosting (the best part). They still looked funny, but I tossed my hands in the air and said Oh Well. At least they were done.

Fast forward a few hours.

I'm helping my mother-in-law make the crumbly pecan topping for her sweet potato casserole and as I'm adding the flour, my mother-in-law hurries over and exclaims, "Wait!! You're using powdered sugar!!" I stopped mid-scoop and looked at the canister. All of her flour, sugar, powdered sugar, and brown sugar are in clear plastic (unmarked) canisters. Sure enough, I had grabbed the powdered sugar instead of the flour. Good grief!! It was definitely NOT my day in the kitchen!! I laughed out loud and stuck the canister back in the pantry.

Then my eye caught my pumpkin bars.

Hmm.

Uh-oh.

My eyes grew wide and I whirled around and exclaimed (to my bewildered mother-in-law), "OH MY GOSH I MUST HAVE PUT POWDERED SUGAR IN MY PUMPKIN BARS INSTEAD OF FLOUR!!!" We both started laughing so hard we almost fell over, and I grabbed a knife and started "slicing" through my pumpkin bars.

They were liquid. A thick, gooey, liquid that my knife easily sliced through.

The top had hardened enough for me to frost them, but that was it. They were a gooey, ruined, mushy mess. We wiped the tears from laughing so hard. Let's just say I hung up my apron after that one.

Good thing my husband's Granny brought her pies for dessert the next day!!