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Pumpkin Oat Bars

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I love anything with pumpkin…sweet or savory. At Crumbs one of our top-sellers is our famous Pumpkin Cake Tart. I’ve had Americans who lived in Kuwait contact me this time of year during Thanksgiving to say how our tart is the best they’ve ever had and are missing it now that they’ve left Kuwait…what a compliment! So we’ve established that I love pumpkin, and so do many others I’m sure. Now these bars are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. They did give me a hard time and I had to try several times before I got it just right. But each batch tasted really good so I had no problem going through most of it…and everyone who has tried it thought it was amazing.
Now these bars are vegan and naturally sweetened. They could easily be wheat-free if you replaced the whole wheat flour with spelt flour. They could probably be gluten-free too if you make sure to use gluten-free oats, and replace the wheat flour with buckwheat or a gluten-free flour blend. I might try that soon, which is frankly just an excuse to make them and eat them again.
As usual I need to have a little rant about ingredients and substitutions in case you don’t have everything available….so here goes…
Coconut cream can either be bought as is in a can or carton, however you an also refrigerate a can of regular full-fat coconut milk for 24 hours and the cream will separate from the liquid, and usually you can easily get more than a cup of cream from a can. Store leftover coconut milk in the fridge to use in smoothies or pudding, and any extra cream can be whipped up to make these bars extra special.
I like to use Libby’s pumpkin puree that comes in a can but homemade can work too.
Almond butter can be replaced with cashew butter or even macadamia. For a nut-free version tahini could probably work, and so would pumpkin or sunflower seed butter. Tahini would probably have the strongest change in flavor, so keep that in mind.
If you don’t have date molasses you can easily replace it with another liquid sweetener or even leave it out.
Arrowroot starch is important to give the pumpkin filling more structure. Cornstarch will probably work instead.
Rolled oats or quick oats will both work. I wouldn’t use instant oats though.
Whole wheat pastry flour can be replaced with regular whole-wheat flour or all-purpose.
Coconut sugar can be replaced with regular light or dark brown sugar or date sugar.
Maple syrup can be replaced with honey or molasses.
Use any milk of your choice to replace the almond milk
And you can certainly leave out the walnuts but the crunch makes it more interesting. I’m sure pecans, almonds and hazelnuts would also taste great. Pumpkin seeds would be awesome too.
Now I used a food processor for both the filling and base. The filling will be difficult to make smooth by hand, so a hand mixer could probably work. You can also use a blender, but the mixture is quite thick and you will need to stop and scrape the sides many times. The base can certainly be made by hand.
Okay, I think that’s enough talk..let’s get baking!

 

Pumpkin Oat Bars

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Cook Time: 0min
|prep Time: 0min
| total Time: 0min
| servings: 0

Ingredients: 
Pumpkin Filling
  • 1/2 cup coconut cream
  • 3/4 cup pitted dates
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup almond butter
  • 2 tablespoon date molasses
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoon arrowroot starch
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
Oat Base & Topping
  • 1 1/2 cups rolled oats (quick-cooking works too)
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter flavor)
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 50ml almond milk
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions: 
  1. Start by making the pumpkin filling. Pour hot water on the pitted dates and set aside to soften.
  2. Drain the dates and place in a food processor or blender. Add the coconut cream and pumpkin and blend until smooth. Add almond butter, molasses and vanilla, and blend again. Add the remaining ingredients and blend just until smooth. It will be quite thick and you may need to stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times.
  3. Transfer the pumpkin filling to a bowl and place in the fridge while you make the base and topping.
  4. Pre-heat the oven to 375F or 180C. Line a 9inch square baking pan (or the equivalent) with parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. Set aside.
  5. To make the oat crust, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and coconut sugar in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times just to combine the dry ingredients and break the oats into slightly smaller pieces. Add the the coconut oil, maple syrup, almond milk and pulse just until the dry ingredients are nicely moistened and stick together when pinched.
  6. Transfer 1 cup of the oat mixture to a bowl and add the chopped walnuts. This will be the topping. Set aside for now.
  7. Dump the rest of the oat mixture into your prepared pan. Spread evenly and press down to form the base.
  8. Take out the pumpkin filling from the fridge and spread on top of the oat mixture. Sprinkle with the oat walnut topping.
  9. Bake for 30minutes until the filling is set and the topping is golden. Let cool complexity and slice into 9 squares (or smaller if you prefer).

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