Paleo Pumpkin Bars
A few years ago, I missed a meeting I was supposed to attend. No big deal, I thought, I’ll just get the high points from someone who was there. Little did I know the high point involved food! Word started spreading about these amazing pumpkin bars Alyssa brought to the meeting.
She sent me the recipe from Paleo Cupboard. I made the pumpkin bars, ate way too many before they were even cool, and quickly resolved not to miss any more meetings this year.
I haven’t done much gluten-free or Paleo-friendly baking so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this recipe. It turned out way more moist and flavorful than I was expecting. So, less like your typical bar and more like a crustless pumpkin pie. You could eat it with a fork or spoon or, hey, use your fingers and scoop it right out of the pan. Worked for me!
And the vanilla frosting? Crazy. It only calls for four ingredients: coconut oil, honey, vanilla, and salt. The finished result tastes like a melty swirl of honey butter and vanilla icing.
The coconut oil needs to soften before you will be able to spread it. I just kept the frosting covered in the refrigerator. Then I pulled it out and let it warm up on the counter until I was ready to spread it and serve the bars.
Paleo Pumpkin Bars with Vanilla Frosting
Recipe barely adapted from Paleo Cupboard
Ingredients
Bars:
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned if you can find it or fresh)
3/4 cup honey, warmed (raw honey is AMAZING)
1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup almond flour (Costco has a great option as well)
1/4 cup arrowroot powder or tapioca starch
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
Frosting:
1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
4 T. honey or maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the eggs, pumpkin puree, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or a mixing bowl using a whisk or hand mixer).
- In a separate bowl, stir together the almond flour, arrowroot powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking powder.
- With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture; stir until combined.
- Pour the mixture into a square 8×8″ pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the center is set. Remove and cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, beat the coconut oil, honey (or maple syrup), vanilla extract, and salt together until light & fluffy. Refrigerate until ready to use and soften before spreading on the bars.
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The whole Paleo diet has intrigued me since it first started gaining popularity. I borrowed the cookbook Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat by Melissa Joulman (Amazon) from a friend two years ago. While I don’t follow the Paleo diet, the rest of the title certainly fits. However, I loved the layout of this book and tried several of the recipes, with great results. While there is definitely no shortage of Paleo cookbooks currently available
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These were super yummy! No frosting needed! They are plenty sweet enough! Thanks!
This looks awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this! I have to be careful with my blood sugar so no grains or sugar for me and am so thankful when people share recipes online that I can use!
Calories,carbs,count No one includes them
Agreed. Nutritional information should ALWAYS BE LISTED….why don’t food bloggers do such an obviously important thing? People need this info! Who will take you seriously without it? This is annoying and unprofessional.
You’re right, I’ve never listed nutritional info for my recipes. I guess part of the reason is that there is quite a bit of variation in my recipes (I always try to list different options/ingredients) and I would rather omit than be incorrect. And I really like butter, so there’s that…
I try to come at my posts less from the health/nutrition angle and more from the frugality/skills perspective. Good news though! There are tons of nutritional calorie calculators online, which would probably give you more accurate results anyway.
This was my first Thanksgiving after my celiac diagnosis and this recipe was a big hit. Thank you! You saved my Thanksgiving!
That’s awesome!! So glad that you liked it.
Currently working on my 2nd batch! Very good; my husband loved them and he is not even a big fan of pumpkin! I did use sorghum flour instead of almond just because I was out of almond so it is more cake like, but still delicious!
Sounds super yummy & can’t wait to try! What do you mean by warmed coconut oil? Melted? Mine is hard as a brick in jar at room temp so I melt it completely for recipes. Thank you!
I tried this recipe, and I have to say they were a huge hit. I took them on a picnic, and when I whipped them out, everyone was amazed!
Thanks for sharing~ Elaine
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know.
Could I substitute maple syrup for the honey? Do you think it would make it too runny?
You can. Just cook a bit longer.
Is there a substitute for arrowroot powder or tapioca starch?
You could try potato starch or cornstarch.
Yum! I only made the frosting part to fancy up my minute muffin. It was delicious! In taste, it reminded me of how choc chip cookie dough tastes when you’re in the phase where it’s nothing but butter, eggs, and sugar. It wasn’t very spreadable, but my house is pretty cold and my honey was a solid honey so that probably explains it.
I’m making these tonight for coworkers. I plan to refrigerate them overnight. I don’t have any experience with paleo frostings. Will the frosting melt during an hour commute at room temperature? Thanks
I think you should be just fine! Chilled coconut oil will be solid so the time at room temperature will be about right to soften it for spreading/eating.
Elise, try using a flax egg instead. 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water. It’s great for brownies!
Thanks Heather! I’ll give it a try!
Elise, I do that all the time. I make sure that my water is warm and I let it sit for at least a minute. It works great in waffles.
I’m both Paleo and GF so I really appreciate the recipe. I will be making these this week!
Any idea if an egg-substitute like EnerG would work here?
http://www.amazon.com/Ener-G-Foods-Replacer-16-Ounce-Boxes/dp/B001GVIRKM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382741879&sr=8-1&keywords=energy+egg+substitute
I tried making gluten-free prepackaged brownies with this egg substitute and it was a massive fail in terms of texture, but it still tasted delicious. I guess I don’t know enough about when it will work and when it won’t. Thanks 🙂
Making a batch right now!!! So excited! I have been wanting a good pumpkin … something … for a couple weeks now! Thanks for posting this recipe!