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!
I was so excited to go home and look at this when I got your tweet about it at school. I love pumpkin. And fall is my absolute favorite time of the year.
Freestyle poetry is beautiful to both read and write; such a gift to just let the words flow and say what you’re thinking and feeling.
And these bars…yum! I have some pumpkin bars that I made and am working on doing photo editing and writing it all up. I love the cream cheese frosting tops!
I absolutely hate poetry! It’s so boring. Your poem was nice though 🙂
Your photos are such nice quality you look kind of out of place in them! It looks funny though because it looks like summer and you’re holding a pumpkin
LOL yeah that’s TX for you! 100 degrees on the first day of Fall. Oh Texas…
yum! yum! and YUM!!!!! they look delicious Katie! Yes I love to write poetry but only the kind that rhyme 🙂 Yes, I’m a child!
These look fantastic and I cant wait to try them. I find poetry is like everything in life, some is good and some is bad. All of it is worth at least a chance!!
Question for you, when subbing stevia for sugar in a recipe do you have a conversion?
I usually will say that 1 packet nunaturals stevia (1/2 tsp) seems to be as sweet as 1 T sugar. But I wouldn’t recommend subbing ALL of the sugar in a baked good recipe because there’s also the amount of bulk it takes up.
Thanks Katie,
Made the pumpkin cream cheese bars tonight for my husband and a friend. Wow they are fantastic!! Thank you so much, great recipe!!!
I will keep the Stevia info in mind and only sub a bit as I experiment!!
my boyfriend writes me poems… ever since high school. They’re always really funny
Yum! The bars look so good! I love pumpkin. I used to write poetry when I was little, but I stopped because I wasn’t really good at it.
Both…but reading a little more! Delicious bars!!
My favorite fall poem is by James Whitcomb Riley, “When the Frost is on the Punkin”
From the second I read the title of this post, I knew I was making these after work tonight and I wasn’t disappointed. They are amazing!! Thank you so much for this recipe, Katie!
Oh wow, I’m so excited you already made them! 🙂
What can I say, I’m a sucker for pumpkin and your recipes!
I just made these this morning and they are amazing! I used GF using bob’s all purpose mix (and no xanthum gum), agave, coconut oil and a flax egg. You’re right, they are fluffy, but I think the perfect amount! There is no way the pan is lasting the weekend…
Aww yay, that makes me SO happy!!! 🙂 🙂
KT this sounds amazing!!!!!
i hav pumpkin in my cabinet…so now i hav a reason to use it!! 🙂
These look so delicious; I can’t wait to try them! First I’m going to finish the cookie dough dip and snickerdoodle pancakes in my room, though 🙂 I love poetry–reading, writing, and listening to it. Have you ever heard of the rapper Dessa? She’s such an inspiring woman…check her out.
Thanks for the suggestion! Off to google… 🙂
Great recipe! Can’t wait to try it out! And you look so pretty in the picture katie! You have the longest legs!! I envy you!
Aww thank you so much! haha I think maybe it’s just how I’m standing… I am actually only 5’5! (My sister, who is 5’1, says your legs are long enough if they touch the ground hehe :))
Mm those look fantastic! I think I need to buy another can of pumpkin.
In reply to your comment on my blog, I did love the brownies! I prefer super fudgey brownies so they were perfect for me. 🙂
Beautiful pictures, and yum-sounding bars! I really cant get enough of pumpkin at the moment, and I feel like Im in good company with ever pumpkin-obsessed bloggers that are out there 😉
I dont read too much poetry. But if someone wrote me a poem, I would surely love it 😉
And you look beautiful in the midle of all those pumpkins Katie<3
Aww thank you, sweetie (pumpkin?) pie! 🙂