I leave pumpkin pie recipes to professional bakers and pumpkin pie lovers (of which I am not one). I’ll take my pumpkin as scented candles and healthier gluten-free sweet and chewy pumpkin blondies with scrumptious maple cream cheese frosting, please and thank you!
Preparation:
To cook:
Level: Easy
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 whole Large Pasture Egg
- ½ cups Coconut oil, melted and cooled
- ¾ cups Turbinado Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Unsulphured molasses
- ⅓ cups Pumpkin puree squeezed out of its moisture
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1-½ cup Oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoons Grounded ginger
- ½ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Ground clove
- FOR THE GLAZE:
- 4 ounces, weight Cream cheese
- ¼ cups 5% Greek Yogurt
- 2 tablespoons Pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Maple extract
- ¼ cups Crushed pumpkin seeds, for garnish
Preparation
In a mixing bowl, beat egg, coconut oil, sugar and molasses until smooth. A few granules of sugar will remain, and that’s okay. Add pumpkin purée and vanilla and beat again until well incorporated. Put aside.
Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, then slowly add to the wet ingredients, mixing after each addition. Mix until no flour lumps remain, then cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350ºF and line an 8×5 loaf pan with parchment paper. You can also use oil instead of parchment, but the bars will come off the mold more easily with the parchment.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and transfer it to the lined loaf pan. Smooth the top of the batter with a spoon or rubber spatula, then bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out with only a crumb or two stuck to it. The bars will continue to bake in the hot loaf pan even when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before removing from pan.
Prepare the maple cream cheese frosting. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, Greek yogurt, maple syrup and maple extract until smooth and fluffy. It should take about 4-5 minutes to reach the desired light consistency.
When the bars have completely cooled, spread the frosting over the bars in a smooth, even layer. Create lush swirls using the back of a spoon. Cut the bars into 8 equal squares and top each with a sprinkle of crushed pumpkin seeds.
Serve immediately and store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Note that after a few days the cream cheese frosting will start to absorb slightly into the bars – that’s okay, but it will change the texture of the frosting and bars a bit. Try to consume them quickly! It shouldn’t be too hard. Enjoy!
