I love pumpkin, and have created many Paleo pumpkin-related recipes (including pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie coffee cake, and pumpkin plantain spice cookies). These Pumpkin Pie bars were originally inspired by Elena Amsterdam’s Pumpkin Bars, which are delightful but quite different from what I have created. I wanted to create a square that captures the flavor of my (pre-Paleo) pumpkin pie recipe, a family secret that is such a unique and wonderful flavor that it has converted non-pumpkin pie lovers. This is the result of quite a few iterations: a moist, delicious square that is every bit as satisfying as a piece of my original pumpkin pie but avoids dairy, grains and legumes.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
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Serves: 8-12 squares
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup brown sugar/sucanat
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 2 tsp coconut flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp allspice
- ½ tsp cardamom
- ¼ cup walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9”x9” pan.
2. Place walnuts in food processor or blender and pulse until well ground and starting to form a paste.
3. Add remaining ingredients and pulse to form a thick batter (or mix by hand).
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes until set.
5. Cool completely in pan. Cut into squares.
Do Do you need help finding any ingredients? Check out Important Pantry Items for the Paleo Baker.
Diet Vs. Lifestyle
Oh yum I am soooo making these. My son is egg free so will try applesauce to replace.
Have you ever tried duck eggs? My son reacts to chicken eggs, but duck eggs have been working for him!
Will it work without walnuts? My son is allergic.
Pecans are a great substitute for walnuts.
If a child reacts to walnuts, they really need to be careful with pecans too. They are in the same tree family.
What is the fantastically delicious-looking creamy stuff on the side?
Whipped heavy cream.
Will you share your Paleo whipped cream recipe?
Well, this was just heavy cream whipped until fluffy. Now, I make coconut oil whipped cream, which means buying full fat coconut milk or coconut cream, putting in the fridge until cold, spooning the solid part into a blender, blending, putting back into the fridge, then spooning off the top once cold (if you use coconut milk with guar gum, you can just spoon off the top and then whip).
Great thanks! I will try this with coconut milk for sure!!
In the oven as we speak boy does it smell good in here! Taking it along on our road trip to North Carolina this weekend! Substituted the extra tsp of coconut flour flax meal as you suggested. Used one egg and used maple syrup instead of sugar. Can’t wait!
Thanks!
They are delish! Came out super thin in a 9×9 pan was wondering if an 8×8 would be better.
One tsp coconut flour, really? Is that necessary?
It absorbs excess moisture.
Has anyone tried it with no almond flour, maybe all coconut flour instead? Can’t do nuts!
I just tried with coconut flour and it absorbs a lot of the liquid, so I would suggest putting a bit less than a full cup, or mixing it partly with another flour.
What can I substitute for the flax meal?
I think any ground nuts or seeds would work in this recipe…
Oh My Gosh! These are tremendous! What a great recipe. The spices are delish!
grease the pan with coconut oil or something different?
Coconut oil works great, you could also use palm shortening, lard, butter, ghee…
Thanks–going to make them right now.
How do you think this would work if I used honey instead of brown sugar (I’m actually on SCD and can do everything else)? Maybe I’d need to use more coconut flour to absorb the moisture? I’ll probably give that a try and let you know :o)
Yeah, I think you’d need to adjust the flour. Please report back after you try it!
OK, so I just made them and they are SO GOOD! You really do create the best recipes. So I substituted 1/4 cup honey for the 1/2 cup brown sugar. I also substituted 2 Tbs of coconut flour for the flax seed, pecans instead of walnuts, and I didn’t have any cardamom. So incredibly good, and thanks again for all the work you put into figuring out these yummy treats!
Hi, I’d really love to try these, but I just found out I’m allergic to eggs (along with a bunch of other foods). I saw a previous comment about replacing the eggs with applesauce – just wondering how that worked and how much applesauce to use? Thanks!
It would be great if the print button would print just the recipe, no photos.
You can pick and choose what you print after hitting the print button.
This question is for Maya Coleman, did you you 2 Tbs. of coconut flower in addition to the 1 tsp. of coconut flower in the recipe? Thanks
I did, and they were excellent! I made a few other substitutions (posted above) and it worked great. I also just made the pumpkin pie and best vanilla ice cream recipes for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I hope I can resist trying them before then, they both look amazing too!
oops! Meant to write “use” and not
“you you” lol!
Delicious! Thank you!
Just made these with cashew meal instead of almond flour. (Didn’t have any) Also used 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup chocolate chips. It was excellent!!! Thank so much for recipe! Will repeat this again!
Could organic unsulphured blackstrap molasses be used as the sweetener for the sugar phobes?
Sarah has not made this recipe with molasses, but you can certainly try. Please let us know how it turns out! If you look at the comments at the end of the recipe, several people had used other sweetners. You can read about different sugars used in Paleo baking here: https://www.thePaleomom.com/2012/12/the-science-and-art-of-Paleofying-part-4-sugars.html — Tamar, Sarah’s assistant
I did not realize one could use brown sugar.
How many carbs are in your recipes? You don’t list them
Is flax meal the same as ground flax seed?
Yes. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
Can you use coconut flour instead of almond flour. I am AI and almonds and nutmeg are no nos for me. If not coconut flour exclusively then are there other flours that I could use instead?
Coconut flour is not a good substitute for almond. You may be able to use plantain flour, but I haven’t tried it so can’t say how it would come out. – Christina, Sarah’s assistant
these sounds so yummy but my son is allergic to nuts. will it turn out the same without the 1/4 c. walnuts? thank you
I just made these last night, but changed the recipe to eliminate the eggs. I was doubling the batch so I needed 4 eggs. I made a banana/apple combo for 3 eggs and did Egg Replacer for 1 egg. This made the batter much more moist…and this is where the problem began. I cooked it on 350 for 45 minutes, but the surface was starting to get burned. The center was still so moist though, and we couldn’t wait to eat some…so I cut off the edges and the top. I put it back in the oven for 20 minutes or so. As I was walking out the door to go to yoga I told my husband it tasted like pecan pie, it just needed the pecans. While I was gone, he roasted Walnuts and voila! A Delicious pumpkin walnut pie!
My daughter is allergic to cane sugar. Would this work with Agave or honey?
The link to pumpkin plantain cookies takes you to pumpkin food dehydrator cookies. Luckily, my crisis was averted, as I was able to find them using a search. And now I’m excited to have a use for some of my frozen, puréed plantain!
Made our second batch today! A hit with the whole family! Thank you!
Could I use organic coconut sugar crystals instead of the brown sugar/sucanant?
Thats what im going to try. Hope it works. Does anyone know?
Can’t wait to try this!! Is almond meal the same as almond flour? If not, can almond meal be used instead as that’s what I have on hand… I’m very new to Paleo/clean cooking eating.
I can’t wait to try this. I just wanted to mention that I love the way the print function works on the recipe. It’s actually readable and has a place to remove the photo. Thank you!!
How big is the can of pumpkin purée? I know we have different sizes up here in Canada!
Could you make this recipe like muffins instead of the 9 x 9 pan?
I made these and they came out great! I substituted coconut sugar for the sukanet and it was perfect. I used an 8×8 pan. How should these be stored? In Frig? On counter? I want to save for Thanksgiving. Thanks!
I would recommend keeping them in the fridge. I made these again a few weeks ago and they were fine on the counter for the first couple of days, but then started to get a little bit of a weird taste like they were going bad. So I’d say refrigerator is your best bet. -Kiersten