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Recipe updated 6/21/16
Continuing the Pumpkin Spice kick…
So we’ve had syrup, a jumbo pancake, oatmeal, latte, French Toast in a Bowl…all pumpkin spiced. Now comes the pumpkin bars, because this is a basic recipe that everyone needs to have on hand, and what better time to post it than during the fall?
These moist pumpkin bars are topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting. ‘Nuff said.
Bars are just some of the easiest desserts to make to have on hand. Never mind intricately boiling a candy mixture, scooping countless cookies, or making a single-serve snack every afternoon (although I do that once in awhile). Bars (the dessert kind, that is) are the way to go. Mix wet ingredients, mix dry ingredients, plop in oven. Make frosting. Frost. Refrigerate. One big pan. Like, really. How much easier can it get?
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 1½ cups Briana's Baking Mix
- 1 T baking powder
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. cloves
- ¼ tsp. + 2 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (most people will probably want to add a teaspoon or two of THM Super Sweet Blend in addition to this, but just the stevia was perfect for me)
- -
- 1 15-oz. can plain canned pumpkin puree
- ¾ cup salted butter, melted
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup egg whites
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 8 oz. reduced fat (or full fat) cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (or an additional 4 oz. cream cheese, for a richer frosting)
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 T THM Gentle Sweet, or more to taste (I also like using ⅛ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder in place of the Gentle Sweet)
- For the bars, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Spread the batter into a greased 9x13 inch glass baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 26-28 minutes. Let the bars cool completely on the counter before frosting.
- For the frosting, beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add the other ingredients and beat again until thick and stiff-ish, about 30-40 seconds.
- When the bars are cool, frost them and put them in the refrigerator to chill completely before cutting. Store in the refrigerator. These bars are best cold. Yields 15 servings.
Briana’s Baking Mix recipe
Suggested products:
THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder and Gentle Sweet (as well as other great products) can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
I just made this recipe and it’s very wet still on top, not even a crust yet. Do you have to sometimes cook longer? I’m perplexed!
I’m perplexed too! Did you make any substitutions or changes to the recipe?
Could you make these with monk fruit?
I’m sure you could. 🙂 The safest thing to do is just to sweeten to taste to make sure it’s what you like. If you want an approximation of how much sweetener to use you can find out how your sweetener measures in comparison to sugar and then use that info in this sweetener conversion chart: https://media.trimhealthymama.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/07222306/THM.Sweetener-Conversion-Chart.pdf
This is such a great recipe! We were looking for something pumpkin and this was just right!
Hey there! I have THM gentle sweet. Can I use that for the sweetener, or is that not sweet enough?
Thanks!
Yes, you can use Gentle Sweet in place of the stevia, but you’ll need to use much more than the recipe calls for since stevia is so concentrated. 🙂 This chart can help you (or just sweeten to taste, which is probably more foolproof): https://media.trimhealthymama.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/07222306/THM.Sweetener-Conversion-Chart.pdf
Do you have a recipe for cheese cake balls? Thanks and have a blessed day!
Nope – sorry!
Thank you for replying!
Briana, I’m so glad I found you…I’ve been looking for a THM recipe for pumpkin bars. I have a question, is oat fiber the same as putting oatmeal in a blender and blending it until it’s flour? It’s not in my grocery stores, I guess I’ll have to go to Trader Joes. Thank you.
Hi Carole! No, what you’re referring to is oat flour. Oat fiber is totally different in texture and nutritional value, so they’re not interchangeable. As far as I know, you can only find oat fiber online. I buy mine from Netrition.com. 🙂
Would these freeze ok? I want to make some for a short road trip but do not want to take too many. Would love to enjoy them when I return home. Thanks.
I’ve tried freezing them, and it sort of works, but I definitely prefer them fresh.
Do you know how long these last in the fridge?
No, I’m afraid I don’t. They don’t last very long around here… 😛
Can I substitute pumpkin pie spice instead of the cloves and cinnamon?
I don’t see why not!
If subbing pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon and cloves, how much would I use?
I don’t know – never tried it. 😉 2 1/2 tsp. would probably be fine.
Just took the cake out of the oven…can’t wait to dig in!!! Thanks for the recipe!! I love fall and am trying out all of the THM pumpkin recipes I can get my hands on 🙂
Do you have any information on the nutritional value-I think sometimes there are different interpretations of “low-carb.”
Yes, definitions of “low carb” are a dime a dozen. 😉 These bars have no significant carb sources in them, so I call them low carb. I follow a healthy eating lifestyle called Trim Healthy Mama which focuses on not having to count, so I like to embrace that freedom and don’t provide nutritional info for my recipes. 🙂 If you like, you can use an app like My Fitness Pal to calculate the carbs per serving.
Made the basic recipe, split it into two bowls, added 1/2 the listed pumpkin to one, and 2 smashed bananas to the other, baking in 8″ round pans. Then I cut each layer in half, iced with the frosting, and stacked, so that I had a 2 layer cake, with one half pumpkin and the other banana.
Cool! Glad it worked out for you! Just pointing out for my THM and low carb friends that adding banana would make a crossover for THMs and take this recipe out of the low carb zone.
What can I use instead of pure stevia extract powder?
Any low glycemic sweetener of your choice, to taste (you can check out the Trim Healthy Mama sweetener conversion chart for help figuring amounts).
Hi Briana ? I made a bag of your baking mix today just for this recipe. So worth it. These are amazing and you are a genius! Thank you for all that you do!
Awesome! I’m so glad you’re enjoying them!
Good Morning. I do not have the ingredients to make your baking blend or nor do I have the THM blend. Could I substitute something?
You can substitute your own blend of low carb flours, but you’ll just have to do some experimentation with amounts, of course. 🙂
pumpkin + cream cheese frosting = perfection !
These really are wonderful! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank YOU for making them!