Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bars

One of the recent tasks I've been assigned to at my massage gig joint is to find, bake, and bring in a monthly recipe - ideally something healthy and relatively easy to make. Naturally, I was all over this like crunch on kale. I already had a ton of ideas, but it gave me even more incentive (not like I really needed it) to explore a bit more to find suitable and varied recipes. Pinterest was literally made for projects like this.

So last month, I went to an old stand-by recipe of mine - Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins - which was a huge hit with both my coworkers and clients alike! For November, my thought was to switch it up a bit and maybe do some sort of crockpot chili.. until I came across a few recipes from one of my favorite blogs, the Detoxinista. (All of which were pinned immediately, of course.) Among them? Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bars. Gluten free, dairy free, added-sugar free. Perfect for November!


I've also been itching to find a good recipe for the bag of coconut flour I have in the pantry. Since I've gone mostly gluten free, I've been experimenting with different grain and flour substitutes (thank you Bobs Red Mill!), but I hadn't found a really decent use for the coconut flour until now. I already knew that it's best used for baking.. but the problem in this household is that anything I bake.. I eat. Because my husband is of one of those incredibly odd and rare species that "doesn't like sweet things". And I mean, I can't bake something and let it go to waste, right? Hence, the validity to my argument that he is inadvertently making me fat. (Just kidding, shmoop, I love you.) ;)


So anyway, once I found both a delicious and relatively good-for-you fall treat, I busted out the pumpkin and can opener (silly kitties thought it was breakfast time for them.. again). The best part is that this recipe is literally the easiest to make. Also? It tastes like crustless pumpkin pie. And really, who needs to bother with the crust anyway? It's all full of hard work and calories. No dice.



The recipe itself calls for 15 ounces of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) - but, if you're pumpkin-obsessed like yours truly and only have the super-sized cans of pumpkin around the house.. it equals about a cup and a half.

The recipe also calls for maple syrup, but seeing as I ran out of that the last time I made these yummy bars, I opted for an equal amount of honey instead. Except my honey was creamed.. hence, solid.. hence, it needed a bit of melting before being combined with all other ingredients.

Let me get on my soapbox here for a hot minute: I've pretty much stopped using our microwave. It's so very toxic and so not good for your food or your body. I stick to heating things up over the stovetop - it really doesn't take that long, and it's like what, one extra dirty dish? I'd much rather need to clean a pot than put toxic micro-waves in my body. But that's just me.

Oh! Also. Honey itself turns a bit toxic if it's heated too much.. so slow and steady with the heat is best. Oh my gosh, everything will kill you, apparently. I just like to avoid these two!

So with the pumpkin measured and the honey melted, I combined all ingredients, stirred until blended and smooth, and transferred to a 11x7 baking dish. (This should ideally be a 9x9 dish, but I already used that one for work.. this was my own personal batch!)

About 45 minutes and 350 degrees later, I had the most delicious little pumpkin bars I ever did taste.

You should make some too!

These will definitely be making an appearance at Thanksgiving, I think!

Do you have a go-to fall treat? Do share!