You’re going to have to forgive me.
Last week was the first week in a good long while that I didn’t share a single recipe with you guys. Not one. I spent so much time rambling on about selfies, food combinations, and my winter fitness plans, that I didn’t quite manage to squeeze a recipe in there on top of everything else. I’m sorry 😳 Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? How about if I come bearing bribes gifts?
Gingerbread pumpkin bars. This is the part where I should probably lie and say that I made these solely as way to apologize to you for slacking on the recipe front last week, but the truth of the matter is that I made these solely as a way to satisfy a random craving for pumpkin and gingerbread that hit me yesterday afternoon — and satisfy they did. But let’s not get caught up in the petty details behind my motives, mmkay? Let’s talk about these bars instead…
If they look a little familiar, that’s because I based them off my beloved pumpkin pie chocolate oatmeal bars, tweaking a few ingredients to make them a bit more seasonally appropriate.
See, we’re (or at least I’m) currently in a seasonal limbo — the calendar says fall, but the weather says winter. Compound that with the fact that it’s nearly December (winter) and our American friends have yet to celebrate Thanksgiving (fall), and the lines between what kind of treats are supposed to come out of the oven around this time become a little blurred… which is why you straddle the line and go with the best of both worlds.
Pumpkin and gingerbread — a perfect treat to make the transition from fall to winter. These bars have the same ooey, gooey, spicy, sweet, rich, and intense qualities as their predecessor, but they’ve switched up their spices and swapped out their cocoa powder for molasses — all in the name of gingerbread.
I have to admit that I haven’t always been the biggest fan of gingerbread. Spices near my sweets?!? Not unless it was cinnamon, and even then, only as a subtle hint rather than a dominant flavour. When it came to Christmas cookies, I would always opt for the sugared Christmas trees over gingerbread men, and it wasn’t until I had some of the most amazingly chewy gingerbread cookies last year that I changed my tune… to the point where I actually find myself craving molasses on occasion.
Well, yesterday just so happened to be one of those occasions, which is why these beauties were born.
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Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 12 bars 1x
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 cup oat flour (or oats ground in a food processor)
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 3 Tbsp. molasses
For the filling:
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and line an 8×8 baking pan with a sheet of aluminum foil, leaving a few inches of overhang on the sides to allow for easy removal. Set aside.
- Make the crust. In a large mixing bowl, combine oat flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Stir until fully combined. Add in coconut oil, applesauce, and molasses. Mix well and set aside.
- Make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add pumpkin, vanilla, sugar, vanilla, and spices. Mix until fully incorporated and set aside.
- Using a spatula or your fingers, firmly press the dough mixture into the bottom of your square pan, making sure it is evenly distributed. Pour the pumpkin filling over the crust, spreading evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until pumpkin has set.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
I made these for a work Thanksgiving potluck. I followed the recipe exactly, and I have to say it doesn’t taste great. I had high expectations due to all the raving comments, but the crust is bland and the pumpkin is very spicy with little sweetness. I think it’s great for a healthy snack, but not for an indulgent dessert. I would not recommend or make again, sorry.
Can’t wait to try this for thanksgiving! Was wondering if adding almond milk / coconut oil was possible to maybe make the filling a bit thicker/creamier? Ideas?
So has anyone made these? How did they turn out? I’m having a problem with the filling setting. Giving it an extra 15 min. to see if that helps.
I just finished dinner and I want dessert SO bad….these are calling my name!!
Those look delicious!
I don’t normally like gingerbread but these look incredible!
Oh my goodness these look delicious! I LOVE gingerbread, especially gingerbread cookies and pretty much anything made with molasses. I’ve never thought of doing the gingerbread + pumpkin combo but it honestly sounds and looks amazing! Love the simple ingredients too, can’t wait to make these on a winter night 🙂
I’m with you on the winter bit. All my leaves are gone, Thanksgiving is over and done so I’m fully ready to embrace winter. In fact, if it means more bowls of soup, well then I’m already there.
Molasses is one of those ingredients which creeps up on you. You don’t even realize you enjoy it, miss it and want it back in your life until it’s gone. It’s a little addicting, and these bars look spot on fantastic. You are one impressive photographer.
Omg woman! I totally LOST IT with the powdered sugar action shot! Holy Yowzers!! I was never a big fan of gingerbread men in the past because most of the time they are crunchy cookies and while it’s hard to find gingerbread with just the right ratio of sugar and spice (and everything nice), I can always appreciate one with some chew! These are pure genius m’dear! And since I’m still on my molasses kick, these are definitely making me itch…to get to the kitchen! Good thing I’ll have some time this weekend to do some baking! 😀
And even though we don’t have a beautiful snowscape like you do up there, it WAS snowing the other day so it is officially WINTER in my mind…plus, once all the leaves fall off the trees, fall is pretty much over isn’t it?
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Love all the spices and the pictures are fabulous.
OH MY GOSH! I want… I kinda skipped the pumpkin craze but I <3 gingerbread!
You are quite the baker and photographer! I can honestly say I’ve missed you and all your posts. Wanna know something? You’re the soon done I’ve read since my return. Feeling special? Maybe special enough to send me a batch of these gems? Haha. Seriously though, they sound delicious!!
1. Yes! =)
2. Cinnamon and gingerbread and saffron
3. More…fall-ish 😛
YUM! I’ll admit to never having gingerbread before, which is odd because I add spice to literally all of my sweets. But I’m adding these to the list of treats to make eventually because they look amazing 🙂
Can you please live next door to me?? These look delicious! I could be your official taster : )
Deal! I was actually on the lookout for one of those 😉
Dear goodness you just supplied me with what I will be bringing to my boyfriends family thanksgiving thursday. My mouth is watering! Nomnom.
um gingerbread is my favorite and since i’m celiac i have missed it dearly! gotta go get some gluten free oats STAT!!!
I’ve been craving gingerbread and molasses too! I just wrote your oatmeal pumpkin bars on my Thanksgiving “to make” list…. now I’m wondering if I should try these instead. The photos are beautiful!
Thanks Kim! Seeing as I’m currently obsessed with both, I’m going to have to go ahead and say that you can’t go wrong with either chocolate or molasses 😆
I love gingerbread biscuits, and the aroma when they’re baking is almost as good! I make a batch every year, usually with flaked almonds in them. Ginger is probably my favourite seasonal flavour. Not a huge fan of Christmas food in general though, sweet or savoury. When it comes to food (rather than the seasons themselves) I much prefer summer flavours than autumn and winter ones…
Yum, these look excellent! I absolutely love gingerbread, it’s such a comforting flavor. Where I live, it was more fall-ish, but as of this weekend, it definitely has turned much more winter-like.
Twins! I put up a gingerbread recipe today too. But I LOVE yours,I never thought of combining my two favorite pumpkin and gingerbread! Pinning noww
These look delicious!! Shame we don’t have canned pumpkin here or canned pumpkin pie filling 😉 I don’t know why but it always makes me smile when people write in recipes not pumpkin pie filling, maybe since we can’t get either here or I don’t know how different the two are. (Yes I am easily amused, this should have already been established!).
Pumpkin pie filling is just canned pumpkin that already has sugar and spices added to it, so using it in a recipe and then adding more sugar would result in one SWEET treat.
Ohhhh baby do these look good! Sprinkle on that powdered sugar… HOT DAMN! Haha but in all seriousness, these look absolutely mouthwatering! I was walking around outside my apartment the other day and could smell freshly baked gingerbread and I’ve been craving them ever since. Thanks for the recipe love! 🙂
These look ah-mazing! I think it was a good thing that you changed your tune. I much rather have spicy cookies over sugar cookies. Plus, molasses is actually good for you! I bet these were delicious. I would like one topped with a big dollop of whipped cream please!
How do you do this?! Seriously. The recipes, the photography, the creativity. You’re amazing.
My friend’s mom used to make a pumpkin pie with gingerbread crust when I was growing up that I absolutely LOVED. I’ve never seen anything like that since…until now! I may just have to whip these up for my thanksgiving meal on Thursday! xoxo
Okay, first we need to talk about those powdered sugar photos because I love them. Second, these ingredients? So perfect. You bake like me. Every single recipe of yours that I look at I think “Hmmm I actually can’t think of anything I want to change.” That NEVER happens. Love these Amanda!!
Makes perfect sense considering I think the same thing when I see any of your recipes!
And by “great in between” I meant “great in between recipe.”
Drool! You don’t see many recipes with gingerbread in them, yum. This is a great “in between”.
Also, YES it is winter here, I woke up to 7 degrees outside. Our ski resorts opened Saturday 🙂
I freaking love gingerbread!!! These sound so freaking delicious! It got extremely cold this weekend, and windy. They had to put the ca-bosh on the balloons in the annual parade in our city. So sad. 🙁
I’ve been so excited about these ever since you told me you made them yesterday! I loooove gingerbread. My favourite are ginger molasses cookers, but I also love gingerbread as long as it’s chewy – I don’t like it hard (that’s not what she said?)!
Have you ever tried the chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies by Martha Stewart? http://www.marthastewart.com/339353/chewy-chocolate-gingerbread-cookies Those are probably my favourite ones.
Pinned! Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂
ohhh Amanda how can anyone ever get irritated or angry with you?! Neva evaaaa… your lack of posting a recipe is nothing to be concerned about, especially when you come back with something like this! A dessert that is pretty much the definition of fall flavors… gingerbread being just so darn tasty and paired with pumpkin? Excellent my friend. I know I’ve said in the past that I was going to bake your pumpkin layer bars, but now it’s either those or this recipe! I shall choose closer to Turkey day 🙂 A fun decision to have to make!
Um, I love both of these things. Gingerbread is def one of my fave Christmas flavors. These sound AMAZING.
I’m with you, I usually don’t like spices near my sweets either unless it’s cinnamon. But these look really good! I’ll have to give this recipe a try for the holidays.