Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
These lightened up pumpkin chocolate chip oat bars are soft, sweet, gluten-free and perfect for an anytime healthy snack!
Yield: 9 large or 16 small snack squares
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups oat flour (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 heaping cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or sub canola oil)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x9 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Mix the dry ingredients together (oat flour through chocolate chips) in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients - the pumpkin through oil or butter. Mix very well to make sure all the sugar dissolves.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir everything to combine. No worries about over-mixing here because there’s no flour/gluten to make the dough tough.
- Pour the whole thing into your baking pan. (Or most of it. There’s no egg here either so you can lick the spoon, lick the bowl, or if no one’s looking, plunge your face into the bowl!)
- Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, until done.
- Let cool for a little while in the pan before cutting into squares. Then dive in!
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Notes
Oat flour: You can make your own oat flour in just minutes. Measure a heaping 2 ½ cups of regular old fashioned rolled oats into a food processor or blender and pulse until the oats are ground into a flour-like consistency.
Brown sugar: I use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar would be fine here too.
Spices: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can use 2 teaspoons cinnamon (instead of 1 teaspoon) and a pinch of nutmeg and cloves.
Chocolate chips: I prefer the mini chocolate chips so they get more evenly divided in the bars and aren't a big chip to bite into.
Gluten-free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats if you need this recipe to be gluten-free.
Vegan: Use canola oil and vegan mini chocolate chips if you need this recipe to be vegan friendly.
Storage: Once cooled, store the bars in a covered container at room temperature for up to 1-2 days. Or store in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days. (I like keeping them in the fridge for the extended shelf life and so they don't get too soft.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1large square | Calories: 219kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 248mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 16g
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