Normally, we have our Christmas tree up by December 1st, but this year we totally dropped the bulb.
It really doesn’t surprise me because I’ve been about 2 months behind throughout the course of 2013. The holidays only serve to enhance this feeling. I’ve still been so busy with book work, despite prematurely thinking that it was finished (hint: it never ends). So, here we are mid-December and there is no tree up yet.
Side note: I still can’t believe I made an advent calendar from scratch last year. Where is that girl? I have no idea where that thing is either….Eric probably got rid of it. If you read the advent calendar post you’ll notice I said these words: “[it’s] a fun advent calendar that can be reused for many years to come…Maybe some day a child of our own will be using this each year.”
hil-arious.
Anyway, back to the tree. The main reason we don’t have a tree is because our tree stand is stored at my brother-in-laws (along with other boxes of junk until we move into a house…bless you, Dave), and we haven’t picked it up. Or should I say, someone went to pick it up (along with our decorations), but the tree stand wasn’t in the box when that someone got home. Oops. The good news is we do have 15 nutcrackers to stare us down while watching TV. Not creepy at all.
Now we’re at that awkward point in December when we I ask if we even bother to put up a tree this year.
Our convo went a little something like this:
Me – Is it too late to get a tree? Should we even bother this year? [said while feeling lazy and pms-y]
Eric – Ange. We’re GETTING a tree. Don’t be a scrooge! [said while blasting Christmas music at his desk]
Me – Oh no you didn’t! I AM NOT A SCROOGE!
So, it’s settled. We’re getting a tree.
squee!
I’m going to pick the biggest one I can find, just to prove a point. Who needs photography space anyway? I’d rather be a Griswold.
I guess we better make this tree thing happen before the snow arrives tomorrow. I’ll try to take a couple pictures of the tree (that is, before Sketchie knocks down all the bulbs and covers the branches with tiny wisps of tinsel-like fur).
Speaking of running 2 months behind, I have a pumpkin recipe for you today! Is it too late?
Probably, but I never really had a solid run with pumpkin this year. Even if many of you are sick of pumpkin by now, you might be happy to know that the pumpkin flavour is barely detectable in these bars, despite having a whole cup of pumpkin puree in the recipe. Yes, that’s a whole cup of vegetables in a holiday snack bar recipe. Who can argue with vegetables over the holidays?
In addition to the hefty amount of pumpkin these bars pack in, there’s also a good amount of iron and other minerals. Over 5 tablespoons of iron-packed blackstrap molasses make these bars ultra-dense and gingerbread-like while providing a healthy dose of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and more. The bars aren’t super sweet, which is why I decided they were better described as a “snack bar” rather than a dessert bar. They are also nice with a cup of tea at night while snuggling on the couch in total hibernation mode.
I added a creamy cashew butter maple cinnamon glaze on top in lieu of an icing sugar glaze. You can also try spreading them with pumpkin butter to enhance the flavours, or they are great plain too. I also recommend throwing a couple bars in your purse (skip the sticky glaze though) as an emergency-holiday-shopping-snack. I don’t know about you, but I think going to the mall in December without a snack in my purse is dangerous. Holiday shopping is cardio and cardio needs fuel! Thanks to the bars being so sturdy, they hold together wonderfully so you don’t have to worry about them breaking apart or getting crushed in your purse. Dainty little flowers, they are not.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Snack Bars
Yield
10-12 bars
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These lightly sweet pumpkin gingerbread snack bars are dense, chewy, and filling! Try them topped with my creamy cashew butter maple cinnamon glaze, or enjoy them plain or spread with pumpkin butter. This recipe is adapted from Have Cake Will Travel.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or granulated sugar of choice)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Dry ingredients:
- 1 + 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
- 3/4 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Pamela's brand, see note)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- heaping 1/3 cup dried cranberries.
Cashew Butter Maple Glaze (optional):
- 2 tablespoons raw cashew butter
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- pinch of cinnamon, to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper, one going each way.
- In a medium pot over medium heat, stir together the pumpkin, molasses, sugar, and oil. Heat until melted and combined. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
- In a blender or food processor, add the rolled oats. Blend on the lowest speed (or pulse, if using a processor) until roughly chopped. You don't want to pulverize it into a flour - the goal here is to keep a coarse texture, with some large pieces of oats and some smaller ones.
- In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (oats, flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cranberries).
- Scoop the wet ingredients over the dry and stir well until combined. The mixture will be very sticky and heavy. Totally normal...swear.
- Scoop the dough into the prepared square pan. Since the dough is so sticky and dense, it's challenging to spread out smoothly. I placed a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and pressed down on it with my hands, trying to spread it out evenly as I went. It takes a bit of time, so don't worry! After pressing it as smoothly as I could, I placed a pastry roller on top of the parchment and rolled it smooth while pressing in the edges with my fingers.
- Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 22-25 minutes (I baked 23) until firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before lifting out the square and cooling it on a cooling rack for another 30 minutes. Slice into 10-12 bars.
- For the glaze (optional): In a small bowl stir together all the glaze ingredients until combined. Add the glaze into a plastic bag and snip off the corner so you can "pipe" it on the bars. Or simply spread the bars with the cashew mixture using a knife. Your call.
Tip:
Note: If you aren't using gluten-free all-purpose flour, I suggest using all-purpose flour or light spelt flour. Whole wheat pastry flour might work too. If you try anything, please let us know in the comments how it went! 2) Feel free to swap the cashew butter glaze for a simple icing sugar glaze. 3) For a nut-free option, skip the cashew butter glaze.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Congrats to Jenna K. for winning the Vitamix!! Thank you to everyone for participating. Many more giveaways to come this month!
I made these late last night and they are gone…so good. I mixed in a little teff flour with the all purpose flour. Not heavy at all. Skipped the frosting and cut back on the sugar in the dough. Flavors were alive! Thank you! (Oh, the dough was amazing too…)
Wow! I love your blog and this recipe looks really scrummy and perfect for my daughter’s snacks she has at breaktime. I am now going to start making these…luckily I have all the ingredients apart from cranberries but will use sultanas instead.
wow! These look fantastic. I LOVE gingerbread. I wonder how it will be like with pumpkin. I guess I’ll find out!
Made these today with almond flour- they turned out great! One question on the glaze- I made it with agave per the recipe but you’ve called it a maple glaze- which flavor so you prefer with the bars?
I’ll never get tired of pumpkin recipes, so keep posting them! I use it all year long; I don’t see why you should stop just because November is over :)
This recipe looks delicious! I love the idea of using cashews to make a maple glaze. I bet it adds a richness to the bars :)
These are delicious! Next time I might add some quinoa flakes to see what that taste like. Thanks for the recipe. Have a wonderful Christmas.
I have a can of pumpkin and I know just what I’m going to do with it. Thanks!
These look super tasty. They would make great gifts and snacks for holiday entertaining.
Hi!
I’m not a frequent commenter but I had such great success with these tonight I just had to share. I subbed the GF flour for whole-wheat (King Arthur brand) and didn’t have any cranberries around, but I did have some crystallized ginger from some other baking experiments. The ginger really brought out the flavor of the molasses and pumpkin. I also used pumpkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon/ginger called for in the recipe.
Thank you for all of your recipes – love the blog :)
Corinne
Good call on the crystallized ginger! I was thinking about using some, but I didn’t have any in the house. Next time :)
These babies are just baking right now – I used 1 3/4 cup of light spelt flour instead of 3/4 cup. I think this was a typo in recipe because 3/4 c gave me a liquid consistency, 1 3/4 cup matched your description exactly :)
Nope definitely not a typo – spelt doesn’t absorb nearly as much liquid as other flours so that is probably why you needed to use more. :) Glad it still worked out for you!
Ooh I did not know that. The things we learn. They turned out great! Thanks for the recipe and response.
I can’t wait to make these
Great for our allergy set
Thank you!
Have you tried both canned and homemade pumpkin
Purée in these ?
I just roasted a pumpkin and froze the purée
Yum! Great recipe. I just made these to take with us on our drive to spend time with family for Christmas.
Happy Holidays!
Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much luck as others with this recipe. I subbed regular brown sugar for the coconut sugar, and I wonder if that put it over the edge with the molasses flavor, which is extremely strong (and I like molasses). I would try the recipe again using regular, not blackstrap, molasses and coconut or white sugar, but the bars also had a somewhat rubbery texture. I’m not sure how to fix that. Nonetheless, it hasn’t slowed me down eating them!
I just made these, adding a scoop of protein powder. All of the kids that were over for a sleepover loved them, and couldn’t tell they were healthy. My husband appreciated being able to take them to the gym with him, as they held up really well after being cut. Thanks for a great recipe!
I find chopping up pumpkin to be a real bind so i tried this recipe with sweet potato instead and it worked a treat! I also swapped the cranberries for raisins. Great recipe :))
These are delicious! I used 3/4 cup spelt flour + 2 tbsp tapioca starch. Due to the starch, they turned out less dense than yours and more cakey (which is my preference). I baked for 30 minutes before they started to firm. I also made it all in one bowl, I did not mix over the stove or run through the food processor. Because I am lazy and don’t follow directions well. Ha ha! They turned out excellent!
Made these tonight … I was craving something sweet! Soo good! I used whole spelt flour and doubled glaze recipe and used maple syrup instead … Incredibly awesome!!! :)
Do you have nutrition facts for your recipes by chance
I don’t want to assume anything.when you say pumpkin purée, do mean from a real pumpkin or canned. I take my pumpkins in the fall and bake them enough so they are soft enough to purée
These look really good and I’ve been really into molasses lately so am definitely going to try makings them. Plus, I have probably the biggest sweet tooth ever so I need recipes for “healthy” treats in order to balance things out a bit.
Can you tell me the calorie count for these please?
I thought Pamela’s has dairy in her flour mix.
Just recently started eating more vegan/vegetarian and purchased your cookbook. I love it so far. I wanted to ask you why you use gluten-free oats in so many of your recipes, and if it makes a difference if you don’t use them. Thanks!
Do you think almond butter would work in place of cashew butter in the glaze? It’s what I have on hand much more often.
This recipe is delicious, Angela. Thank you! I substituted gluten-free AP flour for wheat pastry flour. No problem. Moist, chewy, and great spice combination.
Making these right now! How do you store them? Refrigerator? Thanks!
Made these today – super easy. Okay in flavor .
Love.
love love love these! yum.
I have so far eaten 3 – because its fall and its pumpkin and I have no control! Thanks for another great one Angela
Hello everyone,
Do you know if I can use honey or maple syrup instead of the molasses?
Instead of dried cranberries I used cut up candied ginger in these bars. It works well if you love ginger.
Can I use regular molasses instead of blackstrap? Is there a big nutritional or taste difference between the two?
I just made these. They are sooo good! I didn’t blend the oats, just added then whole and used brown rice flour and they turned out delicious! Will definitely make these again:)
I have these in the oven right now. My batter was certainly dense/heavy but nowhere near the sticky stuff you seemed to have had. I had barely any trouble spreading it in the pan. I sure hope it bakes okay! I followed the recipe except for the flour. I used whole wheat pastry as I do in most of my baking.
Alright. I had my first piece. I like how dense they are but all I can taste is molasses. I want to try and use molasses once in a while because it’s so good for a person. . . . . however, I’m not sold on it yet. I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin (although your Brownie Pumpkin Pie with Crunchy Pecan Topping is awesome! It works with whole wheat pastry flour and coconut palm sugar btw) and I was hoping for even a pumpkin flavor once the molasses flavor hit me. I might experiment with less molasses and some honey instead. Overall I’m not unhappy I tried this recipe.
How much pumpkin puree? There are different sized cans.
the recipe says 1 cup :)
I just made these using whole wheat white flour, and they came out perfect! I love the way these bars made the house smell! You are a genius with recipes! I love everything on this site! ❤️☺️
We make these in muffin tins/wrappers so they are lunch-box ready when they come out of the oven! I’m making a double batch today!
Has anyone tried freezing these?
I made these this evening. I used gluten free pancake mix from Costco (it has multiple grains in it), and I used much less sugar and added maple syrup and extra cinnamon and ginger. For the icing, I ended up grinding raw cashews in my vitamix, and adding coconut oil, maple syrup and cinnamon until it was smooth (which oh my word is THAT a deadly combination!)
This is a total winning recipe! Due to my adjustments it was more of a dessert cake to me, but whatever it’s considered, it’s fabulous and very addicting! :)
Would Almond Butter work in place of Cashews?
Have you tried freezing these bars?
I used almond meal for my flour- worked perfectly!
Made these tonight and they came out so good!! Kept the oatmeal as is and used walnuts in place of cranberries. So chewy and yummy :)
Vegan Enchiladas
I slaved in my kitchen this evening, wanting to desperately to try these Vegan Enchiladas. Well it was well worth it the moment I took the first bite. Absolutely heavenly! I’m new at Vegan and this is a real keeper. I added an extra tablespoon of lime juice the Cashew dressing, that gave it a little extra flavor. Of course I love lime with my mexican food.
I’m so impressed. I want to get the book. I give this 10 stars !!!!!
Yum! I just made these and left out the coconut sugar and found the pumpkin and molasses to be plenty sweet. Next time I’d cut back on the amount of molasses as well, just because my toddler and are low sugar eaters. Swapped macadamia nuts for cranberries and it added nice ten tire. Thanks for the recipe!
Made these last night and used splenda instead of the sugar – and they turned out great! I normally suck at baking, but these were easy enough that even I could make them. The smell of them baking totally put me into the holiday spirit (despite it being April). This morning I heated one up in the microwave, and it made for a very filling breakfast!
My daughter and husband are devouring these right out of the pan. I don’t suspect they will last long, but I’m wondering about storage. How do you store these? Thanks!
I make this all the time! I like to substitute the cranberries with dried cherries, and I add chocolate chips too! Delicious!