Moist breakfast bars made with fresh pumpkin, sweetened with medjool dates and spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves.
Since it’s an October and officially a pumpkin season I’ve got a few more pumpkin recipes coming for you. Last week I’ve been playing around with healthy breakfast ideas and have created this moist Pumpkin and Oat Breakfast Bars recipe.
They are really delicious bars made with fresh pumpkin, sweetened with few medjool dates and beautifully spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves.
I’ve used fresh pumpkin that I’ve made into a puree, but I suppose you could use ready made one if you prefer. You could also use different nuts like pecans that are traditionally teamed up with pumpkin. The bars will be moist due to the amount of pumpkin, so I recommend to store leftovers in a fridge.
Great eaten warm or cold and a fantastic option if you have a little time in the morning and need to grab a quick breakfast or a snack for later.
Pumpkin and Oat Breakfast Bars (gluten-free & vegan)
Moist breakfast bars made with fresh pumpkin, sweetened with medjool dates and spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves.
Ingredients
- 2 cups pumpkin puree (480 ml) from 2 pounds (1 kg) pumpkin
- pitted medjool dates, about 6 dates (100g)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 cups gluten-free oats (200 grams)
- 1 cup desiccated coconut (100 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- pinch of sea salt
- 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped (75 rams)
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (40 grams)
Instructions
- To make the pumpkin puree you can either steam, boil or roast your pumpkin. I find the steaming method the quickest.
- To steam your pumpkin or squash, very carefully open your pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and chop into large chunks. Place into steaming basket or pot filled with little water, cover and steam until tender. It takes anything between 10 to 20 minutes. Leave to cool down, scoop out the flesh away from the skin or if the skin looks nice you can keep it on and blend until smooth.
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C)
- Line 9" square baking dish with large piece of baking paper.
- Blend 2 cups of pumpkin puree with medjool dates and coconut oil and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together oats, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and salt.
- Add pumpkin mix and chopped walnuts and mix well together.
- Spoon the mixture into prepared dish, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and bake for about 30-40 min until browned around the edges.
- Cut into squares and enjoy!
- Store in a fridge.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 138Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 55mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 3g
Hey H, the pumpkin in this breakfast bar makes it really delicious! Another winning recipe :-) Txxx
Thank you Teresa! Glad you’ve enjoyed these:) xx
I didn’t have pumpkin to make the puree so I mashed up 4 bananas but still used the pumpkin spice. They are still amazing. Thank you for a great recipe!
You are so welcome Nikki! I’m so happy to hear that it worked so well with bananas, fantastic idea :)
Hello! Made these lovely bars this afternoon and they are amazing! I added a bit of brown sugar as well, as I wanted something for my sweet cravings ;) They are just perfect, ate two pieces straight away when they came out of oven. Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you so much Margot for leaving this lovely comment! I’m so happy you love the bars:)
hi, can i substitute buckwheat or teff flour for some of the coconut? i would like to use up some of my flour and i was wondering if they still tasted good. thanks and well done for the delicious recipes :)
Hi Gaia, the recipe is quite open to substitutions and I think you could substitute half of the coconut with teff or buckwheat flour. The flavour will change, because buckwheat and teff are both quite dominant and I’ve picked quite subtle ingredients in here. Also they will absorb lots more moisture and they might not be as moist. You will have to try to see if it works for you. Thank you so much for checking out my recipes! x
I have struggled to eat at all, and to eat well when I do eat, since my husband died two years ago. I’ve been looking for filling breakfast recipes with zero garbage in them. Found one! Right here! It’s tasty enough to distract me from cravings for cinnamon buns and other poor health choices. I had exactly 6 pitted dates left, and they were old, from a discount store. Sorry for the offense to this recipe, but even using those, the bars are delicious! I look forward to making them again when I splurge on better dates. Okay, now I’m distracted from sugary treats but I’m thinking about “dates!”
lol At least I can laugh because finding this recipe is a happy experience that will support better health! : ) Thank you so much! I might even brave the cauliflower brownie recipe.
Dear J, thank you so much for sharing your story so publicly, I really appreciate you commenting here, your comment moved me and made me laugh at the same time. Sending much Love & Light to you! Hx
These are only gluten free if the oats are processed in a gluten free environment. Make sure it says gluten free on the package .
Hi Karen, thank you for your comment. Yes, unfortunately some people can’t tolerate oats even if they’re gluten-free ones. I have recently moved onto eating quinoa flakes instead of oats myself, but still have them occasionally as a treat.
Hi Hana, so I could use quinoa flakes instead of oats? I too can’t have them.
Hi Shamani, yes, you can. I haven’t used them in this recipe but used them in crumble bars and they worked really well too.
Your recipe looks great. If I don’t have dates, is there a substitute you can recommend. Not a fan of prunes
Hi Shelley, you could try figs, raisins or goji berries.
Would you know the nutrition information for these?
I can’t wait to try them.
Hi Vanessa, I’m really sorry, but I don’t have nutrition information for these. I do hope you like them if you get to try them :)
Really liked these. I used soaked prunes instead of dates and it was just the right level of sweetness for me. They did fall apart a bit when served. A great fall recipe that satisfied my pumpkin latte craving.
Thank you so much for your feedback Roxy, I’m happy that you’ve enjoyed these. I love the addition of prunes, I must try that myself too :)
Hello!
These look fabulous. I have a question about a substitution for desiccated coconut. I assume the consistency would change without it. If I leave it out, should I add something in its place or is for flavor only?
Thanks for your guidance!
Laura
Hi Laura, thank you. I’ve put it there for flavour and consistency so if you like to replace it I think ground walnuts would be great (lesser amount that of the coconut). Alternatively, you could just reduce the pumpkin puree in the recipe. Hope you like them :)
Looking forward to making these but have a concern. What could be used as a substitute for oil since the whole plant based eating stays away from all oils?
Curious to know nutritional data breakdown….
Hi, I’m really sorry I don’t provide the nutritional data for the recipes at the moment.
Hi Hana, I am so in love with this recipe!
I subbed sweet potato for the pumpkin.
I even added nut milk and less sweet potato and 1-2 eggs. I’ve made them as bars and recently baked spoonfuls on a cookie sheet for about 10 min. I really like that this recipe is easy to cut in half.
Hi Lisa, I’m so happy you love them! Thank you so much for your lovely comment :)
This looks so good! What a great breakfast meal prep for the family!
Do you purée the dates?
HI! This sounds yummy, except that I absolutely can’t stand coconut in any form. Can the coconut be left out? Or, can it be substituted for something else? Thanks! Kim
Hi there, can you confirm that when you say dedicated coconut, you’re referring to it unsweetened?
I’m a coconut nut and can’t wait to try these!!