“Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
-Anthony Bourdain
Hey Friends!
I know that October is officially over…but baking and pumpkin season is never over! Yesterday I turned 22, and let me say, I have never felt better. 21 wasn’t my most favorite year, but I learned a lot and met some of the greatest people. Often the hardest times in our lives end up being the most important. Life has suffering in it..but the key is to not let it suck you in and to keep pushing through and end up a better person on the other beautiful side! I had a ton of pumpkins from a party that my friends never carved…so I decided to bake them and puree it into fresh pumpkin! There is nothing like the taste of fresh pumpkin. Store bought canned pumpkin is a lot more orange and compact. Fresh pumpkin puree is amazing and full of so much natural flavor! I decided to make some delicious pumpkin oatmeal bars out of some of the puree and added chocolate chips to make it more festive, and lets be real, more delicious! These bars also happen to be vegan and gluten free (minus my chocolate chips…but you can buy vegan chocolate chips if you so choose). These bars are great for a morning, afternoon and evening snack and are actually quite health!
Enjoy, happy baking and let me know what you think!
-Kaila
- 3 cups gluten free oats
- 2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of ground cloves
- 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
- 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8×11 or 9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Make oat flour: Place oatmeal into blender or food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes until oatmeal resembles flour. You may need to stop blender and stir oats a couple of times to ensure that all oats have been blended.
- Measure out just 2 1/2 cups of the oat flour and place in a medium bowl. Whisk in baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices; set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla extract, oil, and applesauce for 1-2 minutes until the consistency is smooth and creamy. Slowly add in oat flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Gently fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips on top. Bake for 15-25 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Timing will depend on what size pan you use, but definitely check around 15 minutes. Once finished baking, cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Cut into 16 slices.
Mixing the pureed pumpkin and oat flour together (I just used my blender and blended the oats..turned out great!)
Mixing all the ingredients together and adding the chocolate chips! Who doesn’t love chocolate…boring people.
Pouring the batter into a greased pan. I also sprinkled cocoa on the top for added fun!
Not the greatest photo…but this was about a day later. Everyone loved them! So yummy, easy to make and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser
Kaila in the World 