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 just made these and burned my mouth because I couldn’t wait until they cooled to try them 🙂 I used a flax “egg” and they seem to be a great consistency. I’ll have another one for dessert, just to be sure! I put in a handful of chocolate chips because people recommended it, but I don’t think they need it. Besides, I’m making them for Thanksgiving and want them to taste more like pumpkin pie, so I’ll probably omit them. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Update: They continue to be amazing, even after they have cooled. Just curious – if I doubled the recipe, should I use a 9×13? And do I adjust baking time? I never know with those things, but I do know if I make them for Thanksgiving, an 8×8 will never be enough! 🙂
Unfortunately I don’t know about these things either! Really, I am so bad when it comes to the science of baking… I do everything by experiment :(. Good luck, though lol!
I made these for my picky little sister, and she loved them! Used WW flour, skim milk, two egg whites and coconut oil. They’re awesome! I would say though that next time I’d use three packets of stevia instead of two, just for a sweeter tooth! 😉
I made this at 10:00pm, then when they came out of the oven, (I made them as muffins) I grabbed a muffin & bit into it.
It was exactly like fall in a muffin! I absolutely forgot what an autumn muffin/bar tasted like until I had one of these again!
Then I grabbed for another…ooh, super yummy Katie!
Is there a sugar free option instead of just Stevie? Maybe dates?
Please help,
Katy 😉
Fantastic! I couldn’t find my 8 X 8 pan so I used a loaf pan. I ate the whole thing 0.0
these were amazing! I just made them with some leftover pumpkin and they tasted so great! thanks katie!
These are delicious. I used apple sauce instead of oil. I also used agave nectar. No topping necessary!
First recipe i’ve tried from your site. Wasn’t sure if they’d turn out like yours, but indeed they did! So good! Thanks.
This was the 2nd CCK recipe I’ve tried (first being boatmeal).. delicious again! I used sweet potato instead of pumpkin since I had it on hand, half the sugar amount, egg white, additional milk instead of the oil, and used a mixture of oat bran and ww flour. I brought them to a beach playdate this morning and everyone loved them (my 2yo daughter, my friends and their kids), even my friend’s super picky daughter. Her mom was so happy she ate something with vegetables in it, she asked for the recipe! Thanks Katie!
Just curious, instead of cutting these into squares, could you let it cool after it came out of the oven, ice it, then roll it up to make a “pumpkin roll”? Or would it be too dense, and fall apart when you roll it? I’ve researched other vegan pumpkin rolls, but none of them seem to be as healthy as your Pumpkin Bar recipe 😉
I don’t know… If you try, I’d love to know :).
Maybe make it in a more shallow pan?
If it helps– Mine came out really light and soft and not dense at all, so I think it could work. I did make some changes to the recipe though (above). If you do try it and you have a healthy icing recipe, please post back, as I would love to try it too!!
So I came across this recipe through Pinterest (seriously, how did we live without it?! lol) and decided to make this for a playdate today. I must be a pig because it barely made even a small square in my 9×9 pan. So I put them into individual star pans and came out with only 4.. Regardless, they were gobbled up within 10 minutes of them coming out of the oven. 7 being that the girls were upstairs. 😉 We used an egg and used just brown sugar. Scrumptious. Thanks!!
Aww star pans? That sounds like such a cute idea!!
For those of you who have made these, did you put anything on top? A cream cheese icing maybe? Nothing? Maybe just sprinkle some icing sugar? Just trying to find out what would be best.
Made these with applesauce and they tasted great. Just to note though they were a little ‘gummier’ than i imagine they would have been with using the oil…but they were very moist and delicious! also, i used the splenda brown sugar blend and no one could tell that they were made without ‘real’ sugar. My family loved them!
will molasses or date syrup work, or maple syrup
Hi Katie!
I just made these earlier and they are absolutely DELICIOUS! In fact maybe too much so because I can’t stop eating them!
I try to eat as little flour as possible, and especially white or finely ground flour, so I substituted the flour for 2/3 whole meal flour and 1/3 oats – I really loved the oat in there!
My brownie tin was way too big so I cooked it in a loaf tin in the end and it’s just fantastic – like a delicious sweet oaty pumpkin loaf! Yum I can’t wait till it’s tomorrow just so I can have some more!
This is the first recipe of yours I’ve tried, even though I’ve been stalking this site like a creeper for months, no going back now I’m hooked. Sometimes I have to swap stuff cz we don’t have everying you have here in the UK but this one still worked a treat 😀
Thank you! Jack
Aw so glad they turned out well! 🙂 🙂
I cooked these for about 23 min. Are they supose to be dough-ey inside? I cooked them until they had more of a bread texture.
More like a bread texture, yes (not doughy). Time depends on your oven’s power and also the type of flour you use. Mine usually take around 15 minutes.