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!
Ok! Thanks:) They are very good! Although the tofu I used was not silken (for the frosting) so it came out with little lumps. Maybe it was the blender too.
These were super delicious! I say were, because they were devoured- mainly by me 😉
It was after a run though!
But really, really good!!
Katie,
Where on earth did you get a 7×5 pan??? I can’t even find one online when I search through google! I noticed that you use it in a number of your recipes and I’d like to get one. Thanks!
It came in a Pyrex box of different sizes. I think it was Bed Bath Beyond.
Made this recipe (doubled it)…delicious! Used 3 Tbsp agave and 3 Tbsp brown sugar (instead of one or the other, hey why not wanted to see how it turned out). Didn’t have pumpkin pie spice so instead used a bit more cinnamon than called for, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, and diced pieces of Trader Joes Uncrystallized Ginger (mixed in at the end). Omitted the ‘egg of choice’, used regular almond milk, and applesauce instead of oil. I also pulled an audible and substituted canned, pureed sweet potato for the pumpkin as I had this leftover in the fridge from a healthier mac and cheese recipe from earlier in the week. I baked it for 18 minutes and there was a thin layer of gooey-batter on the top still, but I thought this was perfect especially right out of the oven. With the batter-eqsue top, I covered and refrdigerated what we didn’t eat and just microwaved for 10-15 seconds when we ate it over the next few days.
Love these recipes!
I just made these because I had left over pumpkin from making the pumpkin bread in a bowl recipe and needed to use it up. I ate 4 immediately after frosting them. My mom had 3. Oh. my goodness. Half the pan was gone within 40 minutes of taking them out of the oven!! I used the coconut oil, it was very good. They were so light and fluffy! Thank you for this recipe, I will definitely make again!
These are amazing! I don’t know why that would surprise me considering that they are one of your recipes, but I just didn’t expect them to be that great for some reason. But I was definitely wrong. They like literally melt in your mouth! So good, thanks Katie!
I have made these squares several times. This time I omitted all sweetener an added 1 Tablespoon of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, I also added an extra Tablespoon of chia seeds for a little extra crunch. I used ww pastry flour. Everyone here loved them. I tried them simply with no sweetened, and it needs just a little bit of sweetness.
I love poetry, both writing and reading! I’m the opposite of you, though; I prefer structured poems. I find if there’s a structure to stick to, it keeps the poem from getting long-winded and repetitive and boring.
made these at midnight tonight because I saw the recipe and knew I had all the ingredients in my pantry! Let’s hope they turn out nicely:)
Katie, you have done it again!! These came out so yummy. My husband (not a healthy eater) could not stop eating these. mine came out more like a pumpkin pie cake ( I used agave sweetener). Thank you again for your amazing recipes!
Just made these for my family. They aren’t much for healthy eating but they LOVED these! They were soo good. I think next time I will add pecans for a nice crunch amid the cake-y goodness.
i made these bars and they turned out awesome!
I made these last night because, well, the pumpkin baking obsession has begun! I doubled the recipe, and put it in an 8×8 pan. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly – 1) whole wheat baking flour, because I already have it 2) I only have Stevia in a big bag, and didn’t know how much is in one packet of nunaturals stevia, so I opted for more brown sugar. 3) I’m not vegan, and didn’t know much about the options for “egg of choice” so I used regular eggs. Then, I added 3/4C mini chocolate chips. It looked NOTHING like the picture (because of the ingredients I used) but it still tasted AMAZING! It was basically a cake, rather than bars. The eggs in particular are my guess for why it came out like cake. I baked it in the 8×8 pan until it wasn’t jiggly (about 20 minutes, I think). It was moist, and flavorful, and wonderful! The whole pan was gone by the time the dishes were done! I think I might try it again but just omit the eggs and see if they come out more like bars.
Jalene-
I made mine almost exactly the way you did yours and mine came out quite cakey as well, plus I had to bake it for about 30-35 minutes. However, they are very tasty and I haven’t even put the frosting on yet…and may not! I like the idea of adding mini choc chips though…yum!
I’m new to clean/healthy eating so forgive me if this is a silly question. While reading the ingredients I was confused by this…
“1 egg of choice (flax, chia, I used 1 tsp energ. If necessary, you can omit completely.)”
Does this call for 1 egg and give me the option of also putting in flax, chia, or protein powder? Or is there some sort of flax, chia or, energy egg that exists? Haha!
Sorry, I guess that’s confusing! I edited my post. Just use either 1 tbsp ground flax or 1 tsp of something called Ener-g Egg Replacer (I find it in the natural food section of a regular grocery store, or at Whole Foods). Ground flax can even be found in the baking section of places like Wal Mart! 😉 If needed, you can omit.
Just made these. I doubled it in an 8×8 pan and had to in turn double the cook time–probably could have used an extra 3 mins or so….i used coconut oil, and real eggs and the texture is def. more like cake than fudge and used 7 tbsp of maple syrup and no other sweetner. They fell apart a little bit when I tried to frost them, which surprised me a little bit because I used real eggs as opposed to a veg egg which usually gives me crumbling problems.
Oh- and in the pictures it looks like oats maybe in there? did you use a coarse ground oat flour? i used whole wheat pastry flour and think that could have contributed to my crumbly issue. coarse ground oat flour is what i might try next instead and have them gluten free 🙂
Unfortunately, I’ve never tried it with real eggs so I have no idea how it would turn out if you use them :-(. Might add too much liquid. I used spelt flour.
Going to make a banana version of these. Would extra banana work for the “egg”?
The ener-g is actually there to make it rise, not for extra liquid or binding. So maybe use the banana to replace the pumpkin instead? Report back if you try anything 🙂