I bought my first can of pumpkin last week.I have been wanting to make something with pumpkin since the beginning of September which is considered pumpkin season start to me!  I have made a few pumpkin spice lattes, but a dessert sounded nice.I will make a pumpkin pie later in the season, since that is more Thanksgiving like, but I decided to make some vegan pumpkin bars.

I made some raw ones many years ago, but I have never actually made baked ones so I figured I would give that a go.I always liked pumpkin bars back in the day, those cakey ones with the sweet cream cheese frosting on top!  For these, I used something similar to my pumpkin cake base, and baked them in a bigger pan.This batter uses dates as a sweetener, to keep them nice and moist and give them an almost caramel like flavor that I love.  The batter is actually oil free too, I use almond butter instead to give it richness.

I used whole wheat pastry flour for these, but if you wanted to make them gluten free, I can recommend Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour instead and subbing it 1:1.  I have used this brand before and it comes out just as delicious with the same texture.  This batter is super delicious.  Yes, of course I sampled it!  That is one of my favorite parts of the baking process after all! They baked up nicely, and made my kitchen smell amazing!

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