Happy Halloween!
We had a fun weekend filled with Halloween festivities. Meghan, as the cutest bumble bee I’ve ever seen, wore her costume to various events all week. Halloween becomes a week-long event these days!
Tim and I had an adult costume party to attend this weekend. As you can see I took full advantage of my gigantic belly and incorporated it into my costume. {In case you are wondering, I used all natural face paint from Elegant Minerals on my stomach. You can find it here if you are interested.} Our costumes were a hit. The funniest part was that there were a number of people at the party that we didn’t know, and they all thought I had put a large rubber ball over my stomach at first. When they realized I was pregnant and it was my actual belly, their reactions were hilarious.
On to today’s recipe! As much as I love a multitude of pumpkin dishes, the one that steals my heart is pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie more than any pumpkin concoction in the world.
One of my brothers shares my love, so when he was coming into town I thought I’d make a pumpkin pie. I’d never made a pumpkin pie before. I’d typically only eat pumpkin pie once a year, on Thanksgiving, which I never host. I was way overdue to make a pumpkin pie.
Of course, I had to healthify it a bit, even though pumpkin pie is one of the healthier pies you can eat. I started with a whole wheat crust. Eww. It totally ruined the pie. Normally I don’t mind whole wheat baked goods, but with this crust, I was just not happy.
After my brother left, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could make a different version of pumpkin pie, without the traditional crust. That’s when these pumpkin pie bars came to my head. I thought a flourless, nut-based crust would be delicious. Then I thought the crust would make them more like bars, so I turned them into bars instead of a pie.
I’m in love with this recipe. The pumpkin pie filling has lovely pumpkin spice flavor and a great texture. I used coconut milk on a whim and was so impressed with how it worked. The crust, made primarily with walnuts and dates, is a great compliment to the filling.
You can bake this as a pie or as bars, either way, it’s a healthy pumpkin treat!
Gluten & dairy-free pumpkin pie bars
- Total Time: 90 minutes
- Yield: 10 bars 1x
Description
A perfect healthy treat for fall
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 2/3 cups walnuts
- 1 cup pitted dates (soaked first if they are especially hard/not moist)
- 1/8 cup agave nectar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup rolled oats (for GF, make sure to get certified Gluten-free oats)
For the filling
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
- 1 (15 ounce) can coconut milk (I used lite, full-fat would be wonderful, too)
- 1/2 cup Sucanat
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice or cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Optional toppings
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (dairy-free)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a medium-sized baking dish (a large variety of sizes will work here, you will just need to watch for doneness as the baking time will vary based on the thickness).
- Prepare the crust
In a food processor, process the walnuts, dates, agave nectar, and vanilla until the walnuts and dates are well broken down and you have a sticky mixture. Add the rolled oats and pulse until they are incorporated.- Press the mixture into your baking dish and set aside.
Prepare the filling- In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin, coconut milk, sucanat, eggs, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice or cloves, and salt. Mix very well. Pour the mixture over the crust.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 50-65 minutes, until the filling is firm. {I used a deep pan, so mine needed the 65 minutes. If you use a more shallow baking dish, the time will be reduced.} If using toppings, add them for the last 5-10 minutes of baking time.
- Allow to cool fully at room temperature, at least 2 hours. Then chill in the fridge before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 80 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 273
- Sugar: 15.5g
- Sodium: 78.5mg
- Fat: 18.1g
- Carbohydrates: 25.7g
- Protein: 6.4g
Even though these take a long time to bake and chill before serving, they are well worth the wait! The actual work time isn’t long at all, and the result is a delectable treat that tastes much more sinful than it is. Enjoy and have a fun Halloween!
Just printed out this recipe – looks fantastic!
Your costume was awesome. Very.
hahah, love the costumes!
What adorable costumes! Very creative indeed! I had to show my husband just now and he even thought it was a cute idea. Pumpkin bars look great, too. They are going on my “to make” list for this week. Thanks!
love the bars – and your costume was such a cute idea!
okay, your costume is awesome!!!! I love it!!!!!!! Plus, it looks real!! hahahaha…..I am working on a pumpkin recipe too!!!! 🙂 Yours looks great!!!
your belly is too cute! great idea! and I agree with you, i’ll take pumpkin pie concoction anyday! so thank you for this recipe.
Looks heavenly!
I love your costumes!!! Great job! Meghan is super cute too!
I was thinking about using coconut milk in place of the Eagle condensed milk that I have used in the past for my pies. My oldest son does not like coconut at all. Can you tell a difference in the taste? I would LOVE to use the coconut milk but if he can taste a coconutty flavor I’m not sure he will eat it.
I am going to try it either way, just means I have to eat more pumpkin treats!! Not that I will have any trouble doing that! 🙂
No you absolutely cannot taste the coconut flavor at all. It’s a great substitution!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
OMG how creative!! I love it! haha
great costumes! what a fab way to include your belly 🙂
The costumes are awesome! Love yours, it’s perfect 😀
Pumpkin pie with that kind of crust sounds amazing. I have a recipe for a crustless pumpkin pie that I just cut into bars too because whole wheat pie crust can be so disappointing. I actually just used coconut milk for mine too and it was great. I’m doing that from now on 😀
I agree–the coconut milk is perfect! Who would have thought?!
I love your costume! So creative. It’s really funny that there were people who didn’t realize it was your actual belly. I did a double take when I first saw the pic – it’s very realistic! Might as well put the belly to use before the bean comes out! 🙂
You win the best costume seen so far today! I love that you did something else besides paint your belly into a pumpkin! Nice job!
That looks absolutely delicious!! I love the crust!
I love your basketball belly! My friend painted hers as a pumpkin just a few days before she gave birth. It looked awesome!
OK LOVE your costume! Definitely the best one I’ve seen so far today! So clever! 🙂
These pumpkin pie bars look really good too! I have eat to eat pumpkin pie this year!
Thanks, Lisa!
LOVE your costume! What a perfectly round belly you have!
CUTEST halloween family-ever!!! Love your costumes!
And your pumpkin bar recipe looks very similar to mine! And it is delicious. Love pumpkin pie!
Great minds think alike! 🙂 Is your recipe on your site? I just looked for it but couldn’t find it. I’m guessing the biggest difference is you didn’t use sucanat?? 😉
I actually have not posted it yet! Soon!
Oh goodness! Those costumes are too cute!!!! I bet they were all pretty shocked when it turned out your basketball was not a basketball under your shirt! ……You are all sooooo cute, from the basketball theme to the bumblebee! AW, she looks sooo stinking cute!
I tried to get Meghan to be a cheerleader so we’d all match, but she wasn’t interested. I don’t think she really knows what a cheerleader is. 🙂
You guys look adorable! I’m having an extremely stressful and unjoyable day at work today but your post brought me back to the real world and now I can’t stop smiling. 🙂
Your pumpkin bars also look wonderful!
I’m glad I was able to make you smile, even if it was just for a minute. Hope the rest of your day is better! 🙂
LOVE your costume!! Happy Halloween 🙂