Pumpkin Granola Bars

These simple, homemade pumpkin granola bars are the perfect fall snack. They are vegan and gluten-free, filled with warming spices, nuts, and chocolate chunks.

Are we still in pumpkin season? I feel like there is really no clear beginning and end to the whole pumpkin craze. Is it whenever Starbucks tells us? Pumpkin season starts in August when they begin serving PSLs and ends when they switch to Peppermint Mocha? How are we supposed to know these things? I have no Christmas tree up, so I think it’s fair to continue eating pumpkin over here. At least through Thanksgiving, then we can re-assess.

I have been making some rendition of these pumpkin granola bars for at least five years. My first recipe notebook is a big hardcover one, filled with mostly other people’s recipes I found on the internet and wrote down as I tried them has the date I started it written in the front cover- 1/27/15. We were living in Nashville, I was still teaching full-time, and my business was going to be called “That Baking Lady” (there are little pencil-drawn illustrations of my logo scratched into that first page). These granola bars are the sixth recipe in that book the page has collected its fair amount of chocolate smudges and oil stains over the years. I have no idea where I got this recipe, it’s not really my own, I’ve just adapted and streamlined it over the years, but we’ve been making some version of them in our house every year since.

Filled with pumpkin, chocolate chunks, oats, and pumpkin seeds, these granola bars feel really healthy, while also satiating your dessert cravings. You can easily substitute mix-ins, add extra nuts or dried fruit, and they hold in the fridge, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to a week. These granola bars can also be made vegan if you use maple syrup and dairy-free chocolate, so they make a great holiday baking treat for all of your vegan friends.

Yield

8

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

10 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Total time

30 Min

Print

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Pumpkin Granola Bars

These simple, homemade pumpkin granola bars are the perfect fall snack. They are vegan and gluten-free, filled with warming spices, nuts, and chocolate chunks.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed, optional
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup loose almond butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey*
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped*
• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, plus more for sprinkling on top
• flaky salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a rectangular baking pan (8x8” or 9x9”) with parchment paper. Set aside
2. In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flaxseed, spices, salt, pumpkin seeds, and chopped chocolate.
3. In a large measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond butter, maple syrup/honey, coconut sugar, and vanilla until smooth and homogenous.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until all of the dry ingredients are well-coated.
5. Pour batter into your prepared pan and use your hands to press into an even layer. Sprinkle with more pumpkin seeds. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until set and the edges are beginning to brown. Sprinkle the bars with flaky salt, and let them cool completely in the pan.
6. Slice into 8 equal-sized bars, wrap individually, and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Notes:

• If making these vegan, be sure to use dairy-free chocolate. I really like the Endangered Species Baking Chips with Oat Milk.

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Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Ganache

Happy Halloween week from me and these very easy pumpkin blondies! Halloween will probably very different for a lot of people this year, along with everything else in our lives in 2020, but for us, things will be very much the same. I’m not very big on Halloween. I think I’ve mentioned that before here on the blog, but I just have never really gotten into costumes, I don’t like spooky things, and I’m not really a candy person. I do, however, love celebrating Dia De Los Muertos, and I especially like to spend my Halloween’s watching Coco and eating tacos in my living room.

This is Tahini’s first Halloween and a few weeks ago we spontaneously purchased a very cute little dinosaur hat for him for $5 at Target. Unfortunately, his head was a little too big for it, so we returned it without a plan for any other puppy costume. But that Target Dollar Spot, guys. It gets me every time. They had a little puppy referee t-shirt that said “rufferee” for only $3 so obviously we had to get it. It too is a bit snug on the little guy, but he’s a little champ and Martin spent an hour letting out the sleeves so he would be more comfortable in it. So I guess this Halloween, Tahini will be dressed as a cute little rufferee as we eat our tacos and watch Coco.

All of that to say, here’s a very simple, one-bowl (ish) pumpkin blondie recipe for all of you. There are no herbs or unique spices, no ancient grains or alternative flour, just good ‘ole pumpkin and chocolate. You probably have everything on hand and these little guys can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, a perfect Halloween weekend recipe for when you run out of the good candy.

Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Ganache

makes 1 8x8” pan

Ingredients 

1 2/3 cup (220 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup (113 g) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup (270) brown sugar

3/4 cup (200 g) pumpkin puree

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 oz dark chocolate, chopped

3 oz heavy cream

Procedure: 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 8x8” baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Place butter in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally for 6-7 minutes, until butter is foamy and fragrant and dotted with little amber specks. Remove from heat and immediately transfer to a medium mixing bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. When the butter has cooled a bit, whisk in the brown sugar, followed by the vanilla and pumpkin puree until the mixture is smooth and homogenous.

4. Whisk in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, stirring just until everything is combined and no dry streaks remain. Smooth the batter into the prepared pan.

5. Meanwhile, place chocolate in a small bowl and heat cream in a small saucepan until just beginning to bubble around the edges (about 180°F). Immediately pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate, jostle slightly to settle it, and let sit for 3-4 minutes.

6. After 3-4 minutes, begin whisking the cream and the chocolate together, starting in the center of the bowl and working your way outward until you have a smooth, glossy ganache. Drizzle ganache over the top of the blondie batter and swirl with a knife or skewer. (I only used about half of the ganache, you can store the leftovers in the fridge for about a week and use for drizzling on ice cream or swirling into brownies.)

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges of the blondies are golden and begin to pull away from the edges of the pan and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely (I prefer to let them spend a night in the fridge), and then cut into squares.

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Sourdough Spelt Brownies

I’m coming at ya with a little mid-week brownie inspiration. I make a lot of brownies, especially for special orders, but I realized recently that I only have one brownie recipe here on the site- what a travesty! So here’s a new one for you! I’ve been wanting to make both Izy Hossack’s Sourdough Brownies and Melissa Clark’s rendition of the Violet Bakery Rye Brownies for the last few months and decided to smoosh them both together and create these Sourdough Spelt Brownies. These are decidedly a grown-up brownie. The tang from the sourdough discard provides a sharp contrast to the deep, dark chocolate, and using a whole grain flour like spelt, really rounds out the flavor. These are nutty and complex, with fudgy centers and a crackly crust and they’re quickly climbing to the top of my “favorite brownies of all time” list.

In other news, I felt a slight breeze in the air this week which is a big deal for us Floridians. People all over the country have been eating soups and baking pumpkin loaves for a few weeks now, but I’m just now starting to consider trading in my iced coffee for something a little warmer. Fall is one thing I really miss about living outside of Florida. Both Nashville and Seattle gave us absolutely beautiful autumns, with orange-tinged trees and weather that just begged you to wear cute sweaters and as September wanes in October each year, I miss it tremendously. So I’m embracing our high of 83° and will make a lentil stew tonight and enjoy being able to spend a few minutes outside without sweat beading on my forehead. Happy first week of fall, y’all!

Sourdough Spelt Brownies

Yield: 1 9x13” pan

Ingredients

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter

300 g chopped dark chocolate

80 g sourdough discard

1 1/4 cup (150 g) spelt flour

1/2 cup (50 g) cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

3/4 cup (150 g) brown sugar

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Flaky salt, for finishing

Procedure 

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F and line a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside. 

2. Combine chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl and set it over a double boiler. Cook, stirring frequently, until completely melted and smooth. 

3. When the chocolate and butter are melted, remove the bowl from heat and whisk in brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Let cool slightly. 

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together spelt flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. 

5. Separate two of the eggs, placing the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. 

6. Add the two egg yolks along with the two whole eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until completely combined. The mixture should begin to homogenize and take on a glossy sheen. Whisk in vanilla and sourdough discard. 

7. Use a rubber spatula to gradually fold in the dry ingredients, mixing just until no more flour clumps remain. 

8. In the stand mixer (or hand mixer) begin whipping the egg whites. When they start to become frothy, slowly stream in the remaining 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. When all of the sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed and whip until a smooth meringue with soft peaks forms.

9. Gently fold meringue into the chocolate mixture, only mixing until the white streaks are gone and the mixture is all one color. Pour batter into your prepared pan and sprinkle the surface with flaky salt. 

10. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and then let cool completely in the pan before slicing. 

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