Howdy Peeps,
So happy it’s Friday Saturday! Woohoo!!! I don’t have any plans for the weekend except that today is my Husbands birthday, so I am sure we will do something fun! I just wish he would tell me what he would like to do! I ask him what do you want for your b-day? He says nothing. I asked him if he wants special dinner or a cake and he says nope. He sure makes it difficult!! Does your significant other do that to you? If you ask me what I want, I could give you a list a mile long!!
Today I have for you pumpkin bars. These bars are a combination of a granola bar meets crisp! The filling is made with my homemade Maple Pumpkin Butter with a touch of stevia to sweeten it up. Their healthy, delicious and pretty nutritious!
I will tell you these bars do have a pretty crumbly top if you eat them right away. What I did is refrigerate them overnight and they firmed up pretty good! When I took them to work the next day, the top was no longer crumbling!! I came up with this recipe by changing up my Cherry Crumble Bars with just a few adaptions to make the pumpkin bars. These are vegan and gluten-free!! I used gluten-free rolled oats for the flour and coconut oil instead of butter. I’m pretty proud of these little Guys!!
These bars would make for a great snack, quick breakfast or even to break apart and top on oatmeal or yogurt! The bars come in at 92 calories each, 3 grams of fat and just under 4 grams of sugar! Not to shabby for bar made with almond meal and coconut! I found the next day the bars seem to be more sweet, than on the first day! However, If you like things super sweet I recommend using a tad more sugar on the topping and/or mixing it into the pumpkin butter.
- Serves: 16 Slices
- Serving size: 1 Slice
- 1½ cups pumpkin butter (I used homemade Maple Pumpkin Butter)
- 1 tsp. maple syrup to sweeten jam (optional)
- ½ tsp stevia (optional)
- **For Base**
- ¾ cup oat flour
- ¾ cups oatmeal (not quick oats)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- **Topping**
- ¼ cup almond meal
- ¼ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened (reduced fat)
- ¼ cup oat flour
- ¼ cup oatmeal
- ¼ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- 2 Tbsp. coconut sugar or brown sugar
- Preheat oven to 375F spray an 8 x8 pan with cooking spray; set aside.
- Base: In a bowl add oat flour,oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into large bowl. Stir. Add in the applesauce, maple syrup, water, vanilla and mix well. Pour batter into the prepared pan and push down firmly with fingers to smooth out.
- In a small bowl add pumpkin butter,maple syrup and stevia; spread over top of oat mixture.
- In a separate bowl add almond meal, shredded coconut, ¼ cup oat flour, ¼ cup oats, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Add coconut oil and coconut sugar. Crumble mixture with your hand. Sprinkle over top of pumpkin mixture.
- Bake for 30 - 35 mins. or until the top is slightly golden and firm. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares.
I recommend refrigerating the bars after they cool to become more firm. You can leave them out on the counter the next day!
Calories per bar: 92.4, Fat: 3.1, Cholesterol: 0, Sodium: 175,7, Potassium: 70.7, Carbs: 14.8, Fiber: 1.9, Sugar: 3.8, Protein: 2.2
I want to say Happy Birthday to my Husband!! I hope you have a great birthday full of love (he he that’s me) and fun!! I am looking forward to spending the day with you! Happy Birthday Sweetie!!
Everyone, have a super fabulous weekend!!
Toodles,’
Jen
I think it’s a guy thing…my dad would NEVER tell us what he wanted and would NEVER want us to celebrate! Weirdo.
These pumpkin bars look magical!
Thanks JoAnne!! Your right I think it’s a Guy thing! My friend says the same thing about her Husband!!
These look delicious- I love the topping combination!
Thank you so much! That means a lot coming from you! 🙂 Love Recipe Girl and Recipe Boy!!
What a picture to wake up to! Those look so good! I want one now. You are right, Men make it hard to make birthdays and holidays special. They never give us ideas.
I know I don’t get why men re so difficult! We still don’t know what to do today!! Ugh!
Happ birthday to your hubby! These bars look awesome.. Gotta love pumpkin 🙂 (still!)
Mmmmmm….love pumpkin treats and your bars look magnificent!
Heaven bars! And by the way you are one of the lucky winners of my Stevia Giveaway 🙂 http://laurasglutenfreepantry.com/2012/10/nunaturals-stevia-giveaway-winners-take-3.html Congrats!
YUMMMY I hope you link these up tonight at GFF! It actually will go live tonight at 7:05 pm eastern! We are having a giveaway this week from Domata Gluten Free Products! Hope that you can join us, I’d love for you to share some of your awesome goodies!!
Cindy