Hey, hey friendly faces! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians!! Aaaaand happy Monday to everyone else. Can I interest you in a slice of leftover dessert to ease the pain of having to go back to work/school? 😀
Even though Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to be as big of a deal up here in Canada as it is in the States, I’m still more than happy to milk it for all it’s worth. Good food, time with the family, an extra day off. What’s not to love?! Okay, so food comas can be a serious threat, and food babies aren’t exactly the most pleasant thing either, but it’s nothing a good pair of stretchy pants can’t fix, am.I.right? 😉
This year (as is pretty much the case every year), I was put in charge of dessert — a task I happily accepted. I love baking, so any excuse to get my butt in the kitchen is a big win in my books. The only problem was that I had no idea what to make — none. I wanted something that screamed Thanksgiving, but neither I nor my family enjoy pumpkin pie, which is basically the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert. Since I’m pretty sure it’s all about the texture, I decided to put a twist on the traditional pumpkin pie by nixing the pie aspect completely and sandwiching the filling between two chewy oatmeal layers to offset the goopiness instead.
This is what I ended up with…
Pumpkin pie bars, with a chocolatey oatmeal crust and crumble…
Everyone knows that pumpkin and chocolate are a match made in heaven, and these bars are a perfect example of that. The first taste to hit your tongue is the sultry spiciness of the pumpkin filling, quickly followed by the rich earthiness of the cocoa — which, in addition to providing you with that beloved pumpkin-chocolate combo we all love, adds nicely to the complexity and depth of the flavour.
Can you tell that I’ve spent quite a lot of time getting up close and personal with these bars? Because I definitely have…
Thanks to some mandatory post-baking quality control taste testing and the existence of a second stomach that handles dessert, I ate more than enough of these little guys yesterday to be able to offer you a very graphic description, but I’ll do my best to keep it PG-13…
Ooey. Gooey. Spicy. Sweet. Rich. Dense. Satisfying. Intense… All of the above. And while the flavours are amazing, I have to say that my favourite part may very well be the contrasting textures. You’ve got a gooey pumpkin filling on one hand, and two chunky oat layers on the other… so, unlike traditional pumpkin pie, the goop factor is balanced out by a nice chewy crust. Perfection.
I’d love to know if you make this (or any!) recipe! Tag @runwithspoons on Instagram and Twitter, and be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy and delicious recipes straight to your inbox!
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Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 – 16 bars, depending on size 1x
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. coconut oil (or butter), melted
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
For the filling:
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup)
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ginger
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and lightly grease an 8×8 baking pan.
- For the crust: In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir until fully combined and set aside. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine coconut oil, applesauce, and maple syrup. Mix well before adding to oat mixture and stir until fully combined. The dough will be somewhat dense and crumbly — this is how you want it.
- For the filling: Either by hand or using a blender, combine all the filling ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside.
- Divide crust mix in half. Using a spatula or your fingers, firmly press half of the dough into the bottom of your square pan. If there isn’t enough to fully cover the bottom, add some from the mix remaining in the bowl. Pour filling over the bottom crust layer, spreading evenly. Using your fingers, crumble remaining crust mixture on top of filling, pressing down slightly.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until pumpkin has set.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
If you wanted to keep things a little more traditional, you could make this recipe in a circular pan as opposed to a square one and cut it up into triangles instead. I opted to go the bar route because I have a vendetta against pumpkin pie to maintain 😉 Alright, that’s a complete lie. The truth is… I couldn’t find my pie pan (do I even have one?!) and I was due for dinner in a couple of hours, so — bars it was! Thankfully, no one seemed to mind.
I hope you guys are having a great Monday, and whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving or not, take a moment to practice some gratitude and focus on your blessings — you’ll be surprised how big of a difference it can make in your happiness.
They are yummy! I’m only one person so I couldn’t eat the whole batch at once. Do you recommend refrigerating them? How long do you think they keep? Thanks:)
They should be fine for about a week or so if you store them in a sealed container in the fridge 🙂
Since I’m allergic to chocolate and gluten, I will try carob powder. Any suggestions on the type of flour I should try? Thanks!
Honestly, any flour would probably work. Almond meal would be really lovely, or you could just grind up another 1/2 cup of oats into a flour.
Hi. My friend just told me about your blog and also “Cooking With Mr.C.” on Facebook, also a blog. I just “Liked” his Facebook page and came to your site. Very nice ! I love when people share blogs with each other. Denise
This recipe looks awesome! So creative! Any ideas of a good substitute for the egg?
Well the egg is mainly to hold everything together and get it to set, so you could probably replace it with a Tbsp. or 2 of cornstarch (or arrowroot).
Any substitute for maple syrup?
You could probably sub it with any other liquid sweetener. So honey, agave, or rice syrup.
Holy chocolatey pumpkin heaven!! You never cease to amaze me with your baking talents, m’dear! What a creative idea! And as someone who LOVES contrasting textures, I am totally drooling over here!
Dessert stomach: totally a real thing! 😉
Hi! Did you use ginger spice or raw ginger?
Hi Kim, I used ground ginger spice.
This looks like a fantastic fall treat to beat afternoon hunger. Thanks for sharing.
Yummy for sure!! I’ve been experimenting a lot with pumpkin this year, so I’m definitely pinning these for some inspiration! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!! <3
These bars are in the oven as we speak…I can’t wait to try them! Hope you had an excellent Thanksgiving.
I’d love to know what you think!
Awesome! My family loved them.
These look fantastic!! just pinned it to maybe make for our Thanksgiving next month 🙂
I hope you had a great time with your family!
How good do these look!!!?! I am definitely going to have to make these as soon as my store gets pumpkin puree back in stock, I’m having withdrawal symptoms!!
How good that I’ll make a new batch of apple sauce today or tomorrow! I will put it to good use with these bars – they look like awesome, seasonal study-snackfood. Plus I do have all of the ingredients at hand. Thank you lovely for feeding our sweet tooth!
…. currently praying that Thanksgiving gets here SOON! Actually forget waiting, I’m thinking these bad boys need to be made in advance – I mean I need to try the recipe out first right? 🙂
Exactly. You never want to be testing out a -new- recipe to bring to a party 😉
Drooling. Pumpkin pie may is probably my favorite fall dessert and its something I always look forward to at Thanksgiving. My family is the same way so I think these bars would be a huge hit. Not to mention, they’d add a little spice to the same ol’ pumpkin pie we’ve had my entire life! Yeee!
Totally love this one! Pinning! So clean and healthy!
These look AMAZZZZZING! I can’t do wheat well but all I’d need to sub is that .. maybe with some oat flour or tapioca flour or gosh could be anything. I can’t wait to try these!!!
I’d say you were the right person to put in charge of dessert! These look amazing! I don’t pair chocolate and pumpkin together often enough. So good!
Dessert stomach: Fact. Another fact, I have a dessert stomach more than willing to be devoted to these bars. Despite all my (false) bravado, I don’t hate pumpkin, but I can’t stand pumpkin pie for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Now these, well these on the other hand, I’d be more than willing to try.
Any chance there are any leftovers?
There were before Thanksgiving dinner round 2, but now? All gone 🙁 There’s plenty of turkey though…
Oh, hello yumminess. You can pretty much say I’m on a baking kick lately, ever since we got our new oven last week. Sooo this will be bookmarked to try this coming weekend- thanks!
I love the unique-ness of these bars! Yum! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
These look so good – and so healthy too! Want to come over to my Thanksgiving next year? I don’t think I could give up my beloved pumpkin pie, but I could definitely find room in my stomach for both. So to answer your question, yes a dessert stomach totally exists! I can be absolutely stuffed from dinner, but I will always always find room for dessert. 😉
Holy yum! These are seriously tantalizing, especially with all of your graphic descriptions. I love that they’re healthy…so that means I can eat more. 😉 Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!!
Amanda, these are beeeaaauutiful! Love the wholesome, real ingredients, and they sound delicious. I’m totally jealous that you’re celebrating already! Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays.
Awww don’t be jealous — you guys do it so much bigger and better than we do! Which basically just means that I’ll have to celebrate again in November 😉
Wow! This seriously look AMAZING! I could go for one right now 🙂
I was wayyyy off my guesses haha, I thought it was pumpkin rocky road. :p
This looks amazing- and seriously pumpkin pie is…whats a nice way of saying gross? It might stem from the fact that before then I had only eaten it savoury..but still.
Its a fact- no matter how full someone can be, there is ALWAYS room for dessert. The other night I was full from dinner but had a small bowl of vanilla ice cream for dessert because I didn’t think I could handle anymore. Fail. 3 bowls later..
Those look so delicious! Just found your blog through Jo (living in mint green) and wanted to say hi as I am a fellow Canadian 🙂
Hi Leigh! I -love- coming across other Canadian bloggers! What part of Canada?
Happy Thanksgiving! I like the gooey layer in these bars – they look sooo good!!
Oh god, there’s ALWAYS room for dessert. Lets chat soon about planning our mountain retreat. So far, Karen from Toronto Girl West, Scott from Your Inner Skinny & Jen from Nut Case In Point are on board. IM EXCITED!!!
You single-handedly just redeemed Canadian Thanksgiving for me! Wanna be in charge of my Thanksgiving celebrations? They’ll be in November this year!
I can do that! I might end up celebrating again in November… just so I don’t feel left out 😉
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Those bars look diviiiiine! I might have to make those for my Thanksgiving this year! I bet they’d be a big hit.
GIRL. I want nothing more than to go home and bake these immediately. The only problem is that the hubby is out of town for the next few days and the only person I could share them with is my 9 pound dog. This is a dilemma. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Dilemma? Nonsense! Oatmeal is a breakfast food, pumpkin is a veggie, and chocolate is full of antioxidants — totally healthy 😉