Pumpkinspiration!

I was inspired by Oh She Glows, but knew I needed to change a few things, 'cause that's what I do. Here's what I did.

Wet Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons ground flax mixed with 4 tablespoons water (make and set aside mix in after 5 minutes or so)

• 1 cup unsweetened canned pumpkin purée (1/2 a can)*

• 2/3 cup of maple syrup

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, ground into a flour 

• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats

• 1 cup almond flour (not almond meal)

• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (for enhanced binding)

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 

• 1 -2 tablespoons cinnamon (we like cinnamon, so we use more!)**

• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon allspice
(or use your favorite pumpkin pie spices, in the amounts you like--you can add clove if you like it) 

Yummy stuff (aka as optional, but it's the YUMMY stuff) 

• 1/2 cup pecan halves, chopped

• 4 tablespoons non-dairy chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper

• Mix flax egg in a small bowl or mug and set aside to thicken for about 5 minutes.

• In a large mixing bowl, mix the pumpkin and maple syrup 

• Pour in the flax mixture (should be thick) and vanilla extract and mix

• Mix the dry ingredients (all of them)

• Add in the Yummy stuff.

• Spoon dough into prepared pan and spread out until smooth and even. The dough will be very sticky, but this is normal. (Tip from Oh She Glows: I like to cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper and roll it with a pastry roller. I didn't do this step.)

• Bake for 20-35 minutes (I baked for 35 minutes)(the original recipe said 15-20 minutes, but I changed a few things). Next time, I might stop at 32. It's done when it has a good texture to the touch. 

• Place pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then, lift out and place square directly on cooling rack for another 10-20 minutes, until cool. (The bars will crumble slightly if sliced warm, but they firm up nicely when cooled.)

(Tip: I put the whole almonds into the rolled oats I was grinding to make my own almond flour. Do it in two batches in your Vitamix (or other high powered blender) if you're doing this.)

We all really liked this. 5 out of 5 of us give it a gold star! (I left the pecans out of 1/2 because I wasn't sure how girls would react, but 4 of 5 of us like the pecans.) 

I'm going to play around a little with the recipe and try making it with whole wheat flour. We like the gluten free, and I love having gluten free options to make for friends who need it, but we also like the gluten around here. I'll keep you posted on any new variations. Pictures hopefully soon--we just killed off the first batch, in less than 24 hours, but I'll make this again.

 

*I had 1/2 a can left over and needed a recipe for it. This recipe can be paired perfectly with the cornbread recipe I just posted or you can refrigerate the other 1/2 a can and make the recipe again in a couple of days, or freeze it for later if you need more time between baking sessions.

**I've switched to Ceylon Cinnamon. It's the true cinnamon and may have more health benefits than the cassia cinnamon. It's got a milder flavor and I like to use more. If you use cassia cinnamon you may not want as much.