It’s pumpkin season for some of us, so consider yourself warned. Another thing: A couple of readers have asked me to post a cream cheese frosting recipe, but I can’t do that without giving you something to spread it on. Hence, these pumpkin bars.
Looking at a quick list of the pumpkin cake and bread recipes I’ve posted in the past, there is a clearly something missing.
- Pumpkin Muffins {using coconut flour}
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Bread {almost cake}
- Pumpkin Bread 2.0
- Pumpkin Bread {using almond & coconut flour}
- Pumpkin Dog Biscuits
- Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
These bars are light, compact, and a bit on the sweet side, at least for me. So you might want to reduce the maple syrup or honey by a teaspoon or so if you find it too sweet. The cream cheese frosting is a nice balance to this tender spicy bar, but feel free to leave them naked.
My photos show a crème fraîche topping because I didn’t have cream cheese on hand. I whipped 8 ounces of crème fraîche with about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup until it was light, like regular whipped cream, and then spread it over the bars. But if you’re not dairy-free, the cream cheese frosting is the way to go.
In lieu of the dairy-based maple cream cheese frosting, I’ve also offered up a dairy-free maple frosting using soaked cashews. You’ll need to prepare this one ahead of time by soaking the cashews for about 3 hours.
Pumpkin Bars
Update on 10/14/13: To make these less sweet but still great, I lowered the amount of liquid sweetener to 1/2 cup of maple syrup or honey (it was previously 3/4 cup of maple syrup or honey). If you liked it the old way, just use 3/4 cup instead of 1/2 of liquid sweetener. I estimate 1/2 cup of pumpkin purée to be about 115 g. The moisture in homemade purée may be a bit higher than canned, hence the reason for the estimate. So this amount will vary slightly, but if you’re finding your homemade is too moist you can let it sit for a bit and remove the excess water. If you’re following SCD, use honey instead of maple syrup.Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (about 115 g) pumpkin purée (use homemade or canned)
- 1/2 cup (180 ml) maple syrup or honey
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (39 g) coconut flour
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C, or gas mark 4).
- Prepare an 8-inch x 8-inch (20.3 cm x 20.3 cm) baking pan with parchment paper on the bottom and grease the sides.
- Add the pumpkin, maple syrup, and eggs to a bowl and mix to blend well.
- Add the baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and coconut flour ot the wet batter and mix for a few minutes to blend well.
- Let the batter sit for 5 minutes and then pour it into the baking pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool and slice. Frost if desired. Store covered in the refrigerator for a week or so.
Makes 9 square pumpkin bars
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
This creamy frosting is easy to make and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it. I love Nancy’s cultured cream cheese. If you can’t find cream cheese that doesn’t have additives you can use fromage blanc (farmer’s cheese) or dripped (Greek) yogurt for this recipe. This recipe is enough to frost one layer of pumpkin bars but if you want to frost a two layer cake, just double all the ingredients. For SCD use dripped yogurt or whip up some crème fraîche and use honey as the sweetener.- 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese or fromage blanc
- 1/4 cup (120 ml) maple syrup
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until fully blended.
Makes about 1 cup of frosting, frosts 8 cupcakes or muffins, double the recipe for a two-layer cake
Maple Cream Frosting {dairy-free}
Updated on 10/31/13: I changed the amount of apple juice from 1/4 cup (60 ml) to 2 tablespoons (30 ml) to thicken this frosting. I also removed the 1/2 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey.
Here’s a dairy-free frosting can be used on just about any muffin, cake, or cupcake. It does require a bit of planning—you’ll need about 3 hours to soak the cashews until they are soft enough to yield a creamy frosting. If you don’t have dates, you can use 1 to 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, honey, or other sweetener. For SCD use honey.
- 1/4 cup (55 g) raw cashews, soaked in water for 3 hours
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) apple juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 (20g) Medjool date, pitted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt (up to 1/8 teaspoon)
Place all the ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor and blend until creamy. Store in the refrigerator for a week or so.
Makes about 1 cup, frosts 8 cupcakes or muffins, double recipe for two-layer cake
These are amazing!! I made a double batch-gone!! Kids love them and I cannot get them to eat veggies normally. Making a quadruple batch now and freezing for lunches. My frosting ended up runny tho with the syrup added- thoughts on this? Don’t think I need the syrup, really.
you might be right about the dairy-free frosting – I refrigerate it and frost so it’s thicker. I think it could work well with less syrup and apple juice, and maybe add cinnamon to up the sweetness. I’ll revisit this.
I thought maple syrup was NOT SCD legal?
correct, maple syrup is not SCD legal. Use honey instead.
I’ve never made a cashew frosting before and really wanted to try it. I followed all the steps, but it came out incredibly runny. What could have happened? Could I have soaked the cashews too long? And how does one fix such a problem in cashew frosting?
yes, it is a bit thinner. I usually put it in the refrigerator before using it. You would need to reduce the liquid in it (like the apple juice). I just edited the amount of apple juice to thicken it. It should still be sweet enough.
Looks amazing. Would flax eggs work in place of egg? Im on a strict elimination diet for nursing.
I’m pretty sure it will work. Flax eggs work really well with light coconut flour recipes, in general. Maybe someone else can chime in.
My daughter and I just sampled a fresh batch of these pumpkin bars with the frosting. Yum! A new favorite fall treat! Thanks for another terrific recipe.
These pumpkin bars look delicious, and I love that ingredient list – yum!
These look delish. Any chance I could use almond flour instead? I’m not a fan of coconut and sadly I miss out on super yummy treats like these.
See my pumpkin bread 2.0 and original recipe using almond flour, you can bake them in an 8 or 9-inch square or rectangular baking pan.
Thank you so much!!! I will do that immediately.!!
I served these to my mom & in-laws last night and they were a hit! They took 38 minutes in the oven at 350 to cook all the way through, and they were very moist. I think when I make these next I’ll reduce the maple syrup by two tablespoons or even 1/4 cup. Also, in the icing, I added 1/4 tsp of Penzey’s double strength vanilla, which is equivalent to 1/2 tsp of commercial vanilla, because everything is always better with vanilla. My mother-in-law commented that she would not know they were gluten-free if I had not told them. Thanks for the great recipe!
Yes, these are moist. I have also reduced the maple syrup by 1 tablespoon and others have as well – see the comments—one person went from 3/4 to 1/4 of maple syrup with great results.
I just made these again tonight and reduced the maple syrup in the bars according to the new instructions. I’m liking them a lot better with less moisture! They turned out great with only 1/2 cup maple syrup.
I just made these, and they are delicious! I used only 1/4 cup of maple syrup in all, and felt no need to add more upon tasting the scrumptious batter. And although when I make them again, I will plan ahead and try them with frosting, they were perfect with a drizzle of coconut milk, maple syrup and a tiny sea salt sprinkle. Thanks for sharing!
Great to hear! wow, you were able to reduce the sweetener quite a bit and i guess it wasn’t dry. I’ll have to try it 🙂
I am on day 3 of intro diet for scd. My ears have sooo much pressure they feel like they are going to pop. Is that normal??
sorry, I haven’t heard that before