Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars


It's fall and we're ready for pumpkins!

We've tried quiet a few gluten free pumpkin spice bar recipes, but couldn't find one that was as good as our old trusty recipe. That's the struggle with reimagining life without gluten -- it's similar, but not quite the same. Isn't that the theme of 2020? 

We finally have a gluten free pumpkin bar recipe that everyone in the house loves!

To get started: set the cream cheese, butter and eggs out ahead of time to bring them to room temperature. 


INGREDIENTS
BARS
-4 large eggs
-1 cup brown sugar, packed
-1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
-1 cup vegetable oil
-1 15oz can pumpkin puree
-2 cups gluten free flour blend (see notes below)
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/4 teaspoon ground clove 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
-1 8oz package softened cream cheese 
-1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (salted butter also works if that's what you have!) 
-2 to 3 tablespoons milk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-4 cups powdered sugar


DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9" x 13" baking pan.

BARS
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together: 
-Eggs
-Sugars
-Oil
-Pumpkin

In a small mixing bowl, stir the dry ingredients together: 
-Gluten free flour blend
-Baking powder
-Baking soda
-Salt
-Spices

Stir the dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture. Pour the batter into your prepared
9" x 13" pan & spread the batter out evenly.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle of the pumpkin bars comes out clean. Allow the bars to cool completely before frosting. 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Cream cheese frosting is our favorite part!  

Place the room temperature butter and cream cheese into a medium mixing bowl and beat the mixture with a mixer until combined.  

Add milk and vanilla to the butter and cream cheese mixture. Beat until combined. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time and beat until combined. The cream cheese frosting will be creamy and delish! Use a spatula to spread the frosting over the cooled pumpkin bars. 

Pumpkin bar with cream cheese frosting
A couple of notes: this recipe does not turn out as well with a straight almond flour. Almond flour is heavy and the center sinks. Flour matters! Your flour mixture should also have xanthan gum. If it doesn't, add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum to your flour mixture. If your flour mixture tends to create recipes that run a bit on the dry side, use 2 Tablespoons less flour mixture in the recipe or add 1/8 cup sour cream. Sour cream is a great binder that will bring many of your gluten free baked goods together! 

We love this gluten free flour and suggest using 2 Tablespoons less flour in the bars recipe for this flour.

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