My Toffee Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie Bar recipe seems to be the hit of the season so far on the blog. I’ve had quite a few questions about how to make the bars oil-free, so I figured it was a good opportunity to play around with the recipe. Pumpkin naturally lends moisture to baked goods and I’m happy to say it worked well as an oil replacement in this recipe. I’m also guessing the same amount of mashed banana might work too, but when in pumpkin season…#pumpkinallthethings! I added some pumpkin pie spices to enhance the pumpkin flavour. The result is a much lighter and softer/cake-y bar compared to the original recipe, but the upshot is that these feel light enough for a morning snack. Or at least I sure hope so because I’ve been nibbling away at them each morning when I try to decide what to make for my actual breakfast.
I know some of you also asked about a nut-free option, so I tried a couple versions subbing the almond flour. I didn’t create anything worthy of sharing yet (my trials using oat flour + arrowroot powder and sorghum flour were both drier than I would have liked). Maybe I would have better luck adapting the original recipe with coconut oil? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know if you had any success. I’ll also let you know if I test a nut-free version worth sharing!
My favourite way to enjoy these pumpkin bars is to spread some vegan butter on top (similar to how I love freshly baked muffins!). I guess that defeats the whole oil-free thing, but it sure is tasty. They would also be awesome with my Lightened Up Pecan Pumpkin Butter. I stashed a bunch of the squares in the freezer and found that they freeze well too.
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Pumpkin Oatmeal Anytime Squares
Yield
9-12 squares
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Soft and muffin-like in texture, these oil-free pumpkin oatmeal bars are light enough for breakfast and all your snacking needs.
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg: (1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened canned pumpkin purée
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt or pink Himalayan sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats, ground into a flour (Or use 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon oat flour)
- 3/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 3/4 cup almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder (for enhanced binding)
- 1/2 cup pecan halves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons mini non-dairy chocolate chips, for garnish
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, beat the pumpkin and sugar with electric beaters until combined.
- Pour in the flax egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and beat again.
- Finally add in the oat flour, rolled oats, almond flour, arrowroot flour, and pecans. Beat until combined.
- Spoon dough into prepared pan and spread out until smooth and even. The dough will be very sticky, but this is normal. I like to cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper and roll it with a pastry roller. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and press down.
- Bake for 15-19 minutes (I baked for 18 minutes), until lightly golden and firm to the touch. Be sure not to overbake.
- 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. Slice and enjoy! The bars will crumble slightly if sliced warm, but they firm up nicely when cooled.
Tip:
Tips: 1) Instead of coconut sugar, you can try using Sucanat or natural cane sugar. Also, if you'd like a less sweet square you can try reducing the sugar a bit. 2) To make the freshly ground oat flour, add 3/4 cup rolled oats into a high speed blender. Blend on high until a fine flour forms. You can also simply use store-bought oat flour (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon should do it).
Nutrition Information
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These are awesome! We also swapped in dates instead of sugar and they were delish. Will make again!
So happy to hear you enjoyed them Ana!
Hi. I am new to baking. Is an electric beater the same as a hand mixer?
Yes it is, thanks for clarifying!
Thank you!
Delicious! i replaced the almond flour by coconut flour (i bought it like that, is not coconut meal), and turned out great. Thank u!!
Love your website/blog – hate the ads!!! Jimmy Dean sausage, frozen pepperoni pizza…..
Hey Steve, Thank you so much for the kind words about the blog :) I’m sorry you’re seeing ads that aren’t vegan. We have blocked hundreds of non-vegan categories through our ad network so it’s discouraging when some slip through on their end. I will follow up with them again. You may also want to consider installing an ad blocker on your computer so you don’t see any ads at all. Warmly,
Angela
I’ve made these many times and substitute sucanat for half the sugar. We love this recipe. It’s a regular for me even during summer months.
Hey Sandy, I’m so glad you love the squares! Who says they can only be a fall recipe? :) Thanks for your support!
This is my favorite go-to breakfast recipe! I have made it at leasy 8 times and I’m about to make it again.
Awesome recipe! I made these bars for breakfast, but with only a couple of modifications. FYI, I made a 1/2 batch.
– Sugar: I slashed the amount of sugar to like 1/3 of the original amount. The pumpkin has plenty of natural sweetness and I find that oat-based baked goods don’t need to be too sweet
– I was a little unsure if the amount of pumpkin puree was enough to bind the bars together, so I added a bit of banana puree. I would probably recommend maybe 1/2 a medium banana, pureed, to a full-size batch. This way, I cut back on the sugar without compromising the sweetness too much
– The batter was a bit stiff prior to baking, resembling a sort of energy ball, raw granola-bar like base so I added 1 tbsp milk
– I’d recommend “kneading” the dough a little bit and then just working with your hands to press it firmly into the baking sheet/pan or whatever mold you are using
– I swapped out the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips
– For a slightly earthier flavor, I added a dash of turmeric!
These are very good. My kids love them! I couldn’t find almond flour at my local store, so I used quinoa flour. It probably added a little bit of an earthy taste to them, but they were still very good and the texture was nice.