Guiltless Pumpkin Bars

I had a can of pumpkin puree in the pantry that I noticed was about to expire. Since I did not want it to go to waste, I searched for an easy recipe that included pumpkin puree that was egg, dairy, and gluten free so my daughter and I could enjoy it for dessert.

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I had to find a recipe that included ingredients that I had on hand. At all times, I like to make sure I always have different flours, oats, spices, coconut oil, avocado oil, cornstarch, honey, maple syrup, aluminum free baking powder, and baking soda. That way, whenever I am craving a baked good (like all the time haha), I am prepared!

These pumpkin bars are great for people that need to avoid eggs, dairy, and gluten.  If you are needing this recipe to be gluten-free, make sure the oats you use are processed in a gluten-free environment.  Oats naturally are gluten-free but if you are sensitive to gluten, you will need to read the oats container to make sure they are processed in a gluten-free facility.  These pumpkin bars are (almost) considered paleo because they are free of dairy, processed grains, and refined vegetable oils.  Since they contain oats, by definition, oats are not considered on the paleo acceptable list but some paleo dieters do consume oats.  To make these bars vegan, use maple syrup instead of honey to sweeten.

These bars are great to eat as a dessert or a nutritious snack.  Pumpkin is high in vitamin A which is an antioxidant.  The crust contains nuts which provides a good source of protein.  This recipe is free of refined sugars and oils!

How to Make

These pumpkin bars are easy to make. You will need a blender or food processor to create the crust. I personally love the Ninja blender. It is pricey but well worth the money.  I use the Ninja blender for smoothies, batters, ice-cream, and pulsing/mixing ingredients.  I got my Ninja as a wedding gift many years ago and it still works great!

The crust consists of oats, nut flour, salt, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and coconut oil.  If you do not have coconut sugar, you can substitute maple syrup or honey.  For the nut flour, I used Pamela’s Products Gluten Free Nut Flour Blend.  If you do not have a bag of nut flour but you have nuts in the pantry, you can create your own nut flour.  The flour I used (listed above) consists of a mix of almond, coconut, pecan, and walnuts.  To create your own nut flour, blend your choice of nut(s) for 10 seconds or less.  Blending too long may cause the nuts to form into a creamy consistency instead of a flour texture.

After you get the crust placed in the baking dish and put in the oven to bake, blend all the filling ingredients together until smooth. You may need to adjust the spices or sweeteners to your liking and needs. For the sweeteners, you can use coconut sugar, honey, or maple syrup. If you do not have these sweeteners on hand, you may use regular sugar if that is what you have. Once the filling is smooth and crust has cooled down, pour the batter on top of the crust. A spatula is a great tool to get it nicely distributed across the crust.

Next is baking the pumpkin bars. They do take almost an hour to bake, enough time to get the dishes done ;).  When the pumpkin bars are done baking, you will notice some cracking, dark orange color, and a firm jiggle to the batter.  If your batter has cracks like pictured below, then the bars are done baking.

Once the bars have cooled, cut them into desired pieces and serve!  These bars are healthy enough to be eaten as a snack or served for dessert.  My husband and toddler daughter enjoyed these pumpkin bars!