Leaves paint the ground.
Vivid orange, red, and yellow swirl through the sky, stirred by a cool Fall breeze.
Monet’s paintbrush.
(Hope you liked my little poem!)
Fall is by far my favorite time of year. Everything about it just seems so cozy: oversized sweaters, steamy mugs of hot cider, scarecrows and falling leaves. It’s the comfort food of seasons. Not to mention the actual comfort foods of Fall: roasted veggies, juicy apples, and—of course—pumpkin!
Topped with my favorite Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting.
If you could sum up “Fall” in a bar, this would be it. My first attempt at these bars was based on a (non-vegan) recipe I found online from Better Homes and Gardens. Sadly, that attempt turned out bland and dry. So for my second attempt, I went with my own intuition, adding ingredients I thought sounded good together and hoping for the best.
Oh they were delicious! These bars have a soft texture and the perfect balance of sweet to spice.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
(These can be gluten-free!)
- 1/2 cup spelt or white flour, oat flour, or Bob’s gf)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ener-g powder OR 1 tbsp ground flax (If necessary, you can omit completely)
- 3 tbsp brown sugar or agave (For a sugar-free version, you can use xylitol)
- pinch uncut stevia OR 2 more tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup canned or cooked and pureed pumpkin
- 2 tbsp milk of choice
- 2 tbsp oil (Some readers say subbing applesauce is fine, but I haven’t tried)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients, then add in wet. Spread into an oiled 7×5 pan (or double the recipe for an 8×8) and cook for 14-15 minutes. Note: You can sub agave for the sugar; they’ll just be fluffier and a bit more dense. Let the pan cool for at least ten minutes before cutting or frosting the squares. Also, the flavors seem to intensify and these taste even sweeter the next day.
View Pumpkin Bars Nutrition Facts
You can frost with the aforementioned Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting. Or you can opt to leave them plain. They are deliciously-sweet even when completely unfrosted! (Alternative topping ideas include: apple butter, peanut butter, coconut butter, etc.)
Do you like reading or writing poetry?
I actually do, which is surprising because I hated reading poetry when I was younger. I’d get so confused! But I’ve always loved writing freestyle poetry, where there are no rules—you get to throw in exactly the words you want, in exactly the order you want. Come to think of it, that’s how I create recipes, too!
LOL! I read through the recipe and started reading the comments when I had to go re-read to make sure I hadn’t missed the tofu cream cheese!!! These will be baking this weekend! Thanks!!
In an attempt to keep it paleo, (and use what I have on hand) I’m subbing the spelt with 50% coconut flour and 50% almond flour. Also using Coconut Nectar instead of brown sugar… Hopefully it will turn out! I’ll know in about 20 min!
HOLY MOTHER OF MOSES THESE ARE AMAZING!!!
HOLY MOTHER OF MOSES THESE ARE AMAZING!!!
I used rice flour (for sharing with a gluten-free friend) and coconut oil, and these turned out with the most INCREDIBLE texture!!! They are so velvety and spongy at the same time. Absolutely incredible. I’ve never made anything with a texture quite like these.
Today is my FOURTH batch (!) in a week and I’m adding chocolate chips for the first time . . . can’t wait to bring these to class!
I just made these and they are amazing! I used applesauce in place of the oil. They are very delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
I doubled up on the recipe, used an 8×8 pan but the cooking time didn’t work for me. I cooked for 20+ minutes and it was still undercooked. 🙁
Could using a glass pan have made such a difference in the time? Mine was also much fluffier looking.
I re-made the doubled recipe using 13×9 pan and it was perfect! 🙂
I doubled the recipe and baked in 8×8 pan. I will try the larger pan next time. They are delicious.
What I do is double the recipe but keep the sugar amount the same (3 tbsp. brown sugar, 2 tbsp. white sugar). I sub milk for soy milk and use only egg whites. I also use apple sauce instead of oil. Love it!
When you say 1tsp energy-g do you use just the powder or mix with water?
Just the powder.
I made these tonight for my family. I was out of coconut oil and do not use vegetable oil, so I substituted a mashed banana for the oil. They turned out amazing. One of my daughter’s said these are a keeper. You will definitely need to make these again. 🙂 Thank you for a great recipe.
Yum! I was stumbling for a way to use up the 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree that I had leftover from a recipe! So delicious! I didn’t have the ingredients for the cream cheese topping so I just sprinkled some raw cane sugar on top and they turned out amazing! I also only used 2 1/2 T of brown sugar and then added 2 teaspoons of fresh maple syrup to the wet ingredients. Perfect sweetness for me! Thank you so much for solving my leftover pumpkin problems! 🙂
Hi – I want to try these but am gluten free and I ‘m reading that spelt is not gluten free. Can I sub coconut flour? And how much would I use?
Thanks! they sound yum-o
Amy
Try oat flour, maybe. Or Bob’s gluten free all-purpose flour.
I couldn’t sleep yesterday morning ,so at 3.30am I decided to make these.I live in Australia and I didn’t know what pumpkin spice was so I used half as much nutmeg.I was very pleased in the way they turned out,I also added a sprinkling of chocolate bits and used cream cheese icing with some lemon zest in it.They turned out excellent ,so soft and moist,and I always put a roasting tray of water in my oven when I bake because I seem to think it keeps things moist in my electric oven and stops things over browning on the bottom.Very nice thank you I will try more of your recipes and I hope you don’t mind if I share them.
Hi! Do you know how you can make your own pumpkin spice? Also, do you think it would be okay to omit the added salt in this and many of your other recipes where salt isn’t a major ingredient? I’m trying to eat low-sodium, and even the tiniest bit of salt contributes so much sodium, plus other ingredients already add some amount of sodium anyways.
These look wonderful! For the egg replacer, did you add the liquid to it, or did you just use it dry? Thanks! 🙂
Just dry.
Great, thank you! 🙂
Would gluten free all purpose flour work in this recipe?
I have successfully used Bob’s.
Thanks for this recipe, so easy and quick to make but more importantly it’s delicious. I added a bit of cacao powder to half of the batter so half the “loaf” came out with a yummy tinge of chocolate. My husband and toddler definitely enjoyed these squares as well, loved that there are no nasties in it so can happily give it to my 15 month old. I have just found a recipe online for pumpkin oatmeal cookies which I would love to try but it calls for 1 cup of brown and 1 cup of white sugar, way more than I’m comfortable with. Do you have a suggestion for replacing these? Do you have a recipe for pumpkin oatmeal cookies by any chance?
Try these!
https://lett-trim.today/2012/08/20/no-bake-pumpkin-oatmeal-cookies/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E