Pumpkin Pie bars are an irresistible slightly healthier spin on a classic treat. Traditional pumpkin pie baked on top of an almond flour crust and topped with a date caramel sauce.
It’s time for another Recipe ReDux! Here is this month’s theme:
Trimming the Table
The holiday baking season is upon us. Time to pull out all the stops. Show us the healthy holiday dessert you will be sharing with family and friends this season.
So I used this standard pumpkin pie recipe, cut down the sugar and made a healthier crust out of almond flour.
I also used my own combination of spices instead of relying on pumpkin pie spices. I did this because it has come to my attention that recipes can come out very differently when various brans of pumpkin spice are used, so there’s that.
One of the things I learned from sending my family a holiday survey was that pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple pie were the requested desserts. Since I’m the one that really likes pecan pie, I decided to combine the pumpkin and pecan pies. I don’t really love pecan pie filling anyway, just the sweet pecans. So I made a brown sugar pecan crisp topping which was PERFECT!
Pumpkin Pie Bars (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
For Crust:*
- 2 Cups Blanched Fine Almond Flour
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Pie:
For topping:
- 1 cup pecans
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Optional Date Caramel Sauce:
- 1 cup medjool dates
- 2-4 T half and half desired creaminess
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Soak dates in one cup water (I use a mason jar) overnight or for 12 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425F
- Add the crust ingredients to a food processor and process for 10-15 seconds. You want a slightly wet dough to form.
- Press the crust into parchment lined cake pan ( creating a thin even layer. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
- Add all filling ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. You may need to scrap the sides and process again.
- Pour filling onto chilled crust.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 425F. While it is baking make your pecan topping. Rinse out your food processor and quickly dry it. Add pecans and brown sugar to the processor and pulse 4-5 times.
- When the 10 minutes is up, add the pecan topping to the top of the pie by sprinkling it evenly across it. Now turn down the heat and bake for 40-60 minutes at 350F. Bake until knife inserted 2 inches from the center comes out clean. Let sit for 10-20 minutes, ideally refrigerate overnight and serve cold.
- To make the optional date caramel: drain the water from the dates and add soaked dates plus the half and half to the food processor. Process until smooth. Add to a piping bag or ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle across the bars. Best to do this when the pie is cold!
Notes
Nutrition
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I love the idea of pumpkin pie bars and that date caramel drizzle too!
I made these and the crust came out soggy..why?
Hi Karen! I’m sorry to hear that, I hate when I make a recipe and it doesn’t turn out right. Let me see if I can help. What part came out soggy the crust or the pie part? If it was the crust – it is a bit softer than normal pie crust but shouldn’t be soggy. If it was the pie, how long did you bake it for? It should be the texture of pumpkin pie.