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.
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
(click to expand)
Oh I love these bars. The pumpkin was a great way to replace the oil! I’ve been very snacky lately so I would like to be to have something like this around to satisfy the sweet 3pm cravings!
Deeeeelish looking, Ange!! I need to definitely make some of your more recent bars because I’ve been slacking. I’m sorry!! haha
What kind of oat meal regular cinnamon e.c.t.
These look awesome! Your toffee bars look fab as well but I have been avoiding them because I had a bad experience when I was younger…to much of a good thing:) But these I am totally going to try:)
Is there a substitution for the Arrowroot powder? I haven’t been able to find any without ordering online and didn’t know if it was absolutely necessary. Thanks!
Hey Stephanie, You can probably swap cornstarch for the arrowroot. Hope this helps!
I used tapioca flour instead of arrowroot.
These look so easy and delicious and Angela! Love it!
Quick question- Can whole almond meal be used, or must it be blanched almond flour? Thanks for the info! These sound fantastic!!
I used homemade whole almond meal last night and was worried they were too dense and underbaked when they came out – but seeing as how they only lasted about 2 hours in my office today and people are begging me for more, I’d say it worked just fine!
A perfect anytime snack bar! Love it. :)
These sound amazing!
Hey Angela! I LOVE your blog by the way. I’ve been following for about a year now.
Anywho, I was wondering if you had any sos-free (salt, oil, sugar-free) versions of these bars? ( or any sos-free recipes for that matter.)
Thanks in advance!
How delicious!! I love the chips in there!
are you a mind reader? wanted a recipe exactly to this name and up this pops! thanks so much, will try out tomorrow!
I agree with Cassie, absolutely love the toffee cinnamon oatmeal cookie bars, it’s a big hit at my home, thank you for the recipe. Love pumpkin so can’t wait to try these pumpkin oatmeal anytime squares!
I really appreciate when you make gluten-free, nut-free items because they are so hard to find and I have new sensitivities to both. These sound amazing! Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors, so it always attracts my attention.
These bars look right up my alley! Let’s say your toffee bars did not last long around here! And I made your lightened up pecan butter last Fall – it is nothing short of amazing :) Looking forward to trying these pumpkin bars Angela – they sound perfect!
Update: Made these this morning and LOVE them! I made a few subs (brown cane sugar for the coconut sugar because I am all out) and also left out the arrowroot flour. Next time I will add a tbsp of buckwheat or arrowroot to bind them! They are nothing short of perfect, Angela!
Oh my god, this looks amazing! The only unfortunate part of this is that I don’t have a batch made already!
Just wondering if I can swap out the arrowroot powder? I don’t have any on hand so I thought maybe I’ll experiment with some flax or chia seeds? I don’t expect it to get the same result though. Maybe some kind of starch flour will work? I don’t know why I seem to just be typing my train of thought here . . . :P Anyway, thanks for the recipe!
-Aya
http://healthy-appetite.blogspot.de/
Hi Aya, You can probably sub it for cornstarch…hope this helps!
This is much a perfect snack for this time of year, I cannot wait to make this. YUM!
nourishnature.blogspot.ca
Those look amazing… do you think I could replace the almond flour by coconut flour? I have so much of it! LOL! I would love your input.
Im not certain but I think it would be too dry with coconut flour (coconut flour is very drying in recipes), so I wouldnt recommend it.
Anything pumpkin gets my vote! This looks delicious!
Yum!! Is there a way to incorporate coconut oil into this to make it more “fudgy”? Maybe sub in for some of the pumpkin?
Yes Im sure you could do that!
Great, thanks Angela! Does anyone have any suggestions on how much I should sub in? I’m not very “bake-savvy” hah
Can I substitue something for the almond flour (I’m not vegan)?