Sweet and beautifully flavored, Pumpkin Bars with tangy cream cheese frosting are just beyond delicious -completely irresistible. These bars are made with all HEALTHY, natural ingredients, and REFINED SUGAR-FREE – which makes this sweet treat a perfect guilt-free dessert great for potlucks and Holidays.
Confession time. For the last couple of weeks, I haven’t baked not one single dessert for my family. Can you believe that?! Me – foodie and a huge lover of brownies and cookies and anything sweet, with a husband who is even BIGGER sweet-tooths that I am. Well, not one single sweet treat came out of my oven for weeks. It’s indeed a shock.
Well, we were not completely sweets-free during this time. We kinda binged on seasonal fruits and protein-packed Gingerbread Energy Balls and Pumpkin Pie Energy Balls. I guess our new gym routine makes us immune to classic baked desserts. But with Holidays approaching (yay!), and Thanksgiving just around the corner, I needed to fire up the oven, to get my mixing bowls out and wipe the dust off that baking pans.
Since sweet pumpkins are still in season, and my fridge is loaded with Homemade Pumpkin Puree, I decided to make something pumpkinish.
These simple jet so gorgeous Pumpkin Bars with cream cheese frosting were the perfect choice. Last year Pumpkin Roll Cake was a huge hit in my house during Holidays. It was time for some new pumpkin dessert to take over the throne.
These Pumpkin Bars with its soft cake-like texture, loaded with beautiful pumpkin flavor and topped with tangy creamy cheesy frosting, sprinkled with crunchy walnuts and sweet goji berries turned out to be the absolute winner.
Ok, now read that again and just look at the pics. Tell me you’re not convinced to try these.
How to make pumpkin bars
This pumpkin bar recipe is SO simple. Like ultimate no-brainer. It requires only a few very basic ingredients. I guess you have them in your pantry already.
I used ALL NATURAL and healthy stuff – whole grain flour that has much more nutrients than plain all-purpose white flour and homemade pumpkin puree made with REAL PUMPKIN. Homemade pumpkin puree is so much sweeter, with more flavor. It has that beautiful natural pumpkin aroma. Seriously, if you’re still buying canned stuff – just stop. It’s easy to make pumpkin puree at home. Not only it’s healthier but cheaper as well.
To sweeten this beauty up, I used pure maple syrup, which makes this Pumpkin Bars REFINED SUGAR-FREE dessert, perfect for guilt-free afternoon enjoyment and Holiday table.
What makes this Pumpkin Bars so special and so tempting is not only soft cake-like texture loaded with pumpkin flavor BUT also a delightful pumpkin spice mix that is added in the soft batter.
I have my own pumpkin pie spice mix recipe and I use it for all my pumpkin desserts. It’s a combination of fragrant Ceylon cinnamon and aromatic ginger both with so many health benefits. But also nutmeg, allspice, and pungent cloves.
You can buy pumpkin spice mix in the store – easy. But store-bought stuff doesn’t always use healthier Ceylon cinnamon, so I always make my own mix with high-quality organic stuff.
To make these pumpkin bars even more awesome, I cremated it with some tangy cream cheese frosting and added toppings: crunchy roughly chopped walnuts and immune boosting SUPERFOOD – goji berries. Both walnuts and goji berries turned this beauty into real festive delight. But they enhanced these bars with nutrients – healthy fats, essential vitamins, and minerals.
I tell you – these are the best pumpkin bars EVA! With soft, moist texture loaded with pumpkin flavor, creamed with tangy cream cheese frosting, these bars are so SOOO tempting.
You will have a hard time stop just at one slice.
Enjoy!
Pumpkin Bars with cream cheese frosting
Light and flavorful, these Pumpkin Bars with tangy cream cheese frosting are beyond delicious. Healthy and REFINED SUGAR-FREE, these bars are the perfect guilt-free sweet treat.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole grain flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 2 cups light cream cheese
- 1/4 cup powdered xylitol or powdered erythritol
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
Toppings:
- walnuts roughly chopped
- Goji berries
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Spray a 10x10-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.
-
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and spices.
-
In another larger bowl whisk the eggs with syrup and oil. Mix in pumpkin puree. Add dry ingredients in wet and mix until nicely combined.
-
Spread the batter into the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with no crumbs on it. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting it.
For the frosting:
-
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with powdered sugar on low speed until smooth. Add vanilla and Greek yogurt. Mix on low speed until smooth and spreadable.
-
Once the pumpkin bars have cooled, spread frosting on top.
-
Sprinkle with walnuts and goji berries. Cut into bars and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Store in the air-tight container covered in the refrigerator.
As a measure, I used US cup (240ml).
For thinner bars use 15x10-inch jelly roll pan - yields more bars (around 30 bars).
For ticker bars use the 10x10-inch baking pan - yields less bars (16 bars).
Try these healthy pumpkin desserts too:
Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Pumpkin Loaf Cake
These are my recommendation for this recipe:
What a lovely looking dessert! Never would’ve thought of tipping with Goji berries.
I use goji so much in many of my desserts and treats. Not only they are colorful and super tasty, but HEALTHY too. 😉
These pumpkin bars sound absolutely delicious! I love the addition of the goji berries on top too; they just make the bars so festive!
I love goji berries. Thank you so much. Glad you like it!
This looks so moist and fabulous! Love the festive look.
It’s really so sooo good. Hope you’ll give it a try 😉
So happy to find this recipe! I love to do something non traditional with pumpkin. Tired of pumpkin pies!
Ha my thoughts exactly 😉 Glad you like this recipe! Enjoy!
These are so pretty. The little pop of color on top is a perfect addition to these little treats.
Thank you so much. 🙂
Those look fantastic. You have packed in so many nutrient rich foods into it.
Thank you so much Roxana. I’m glad you like it. Enjoy!
This is seriously one of my favorite desserts ever. I want to thank you for this great recipe! Looks very tasty. Love Love Love this recipe!
I am loving your topping choices! Creative, delicious, and healthy! Great twist on a traditional fall recipe!
These pumpkin bars are gorgeous! They’re filled with the joy of the holiday season.
I’m not a big fan of pumpkin, but I will say this looks really good! I’ve never tried goji berries before, but they look very interesting
These Pumpkin Bars look great! My children will be delighted with them! I want to eat it every day! I’m sure this is very tasty. This is a great recipe for me.
As far as I concerned, you can never have too many pumpkin recipes. I am a pumpkin fanatic. What a great dessert or addition to the brunch menu.
OMG, those pumpkin bars look so soft, fluffy and absolutely delicious. And that cream cheese frosting with the nuts & goji berries — yumm, yumm!!
What a great dessert! I still haven’t gotten enough pumpkin this season and these bars would certainly fulfill my craving for more. I think that cream cheese is the perfect topping for pumpkin cake or bars. And I love the touch of red with the berries.
This looks so delicious! My husband loves everything pumpkin and I know he would love to try this for a snack!
These are so fluffy and gorgeous to look at <3 those goji berries with the cream cheese frosting would make these such a special treat for the Holidays.
That looks scrumptious and love how simple and easy this is to make too. My kids would love this. I must try soon.
Pumpkin bars are the stars of the show for me this year! I think it was pumpkin puree in 2017 but this time it is all about pumpkin bars. I just love them. And yours look fantastic!
Oh these look beautiful!! What PERFECT holiday dessert. I wish I had one of these right now! 😀
You made pumpkin bars extra special and healthy with addition of super fruit goji berries and walnut Love it. Wholesome bars.
We love anything pumpkin and these look so delicious, yet wholesome. Adding these to my favorite pumpkin recipes!
I love the beautiful topping on these bars! A simply stunning dessert with allllll the flavors 🙂
These look so scrumptious! I wish I could just grab one off the screen and have with my cuppa right now! They are also beautifully decorated!
These look delicious with a lovely texture to the crumb, but what I really love is that exceptionally pretty topping! It’s so tempting and I can only imagine that it’s equally delicious!
Yes!!! There is no need to buy the canned stuff!! Making your own puree gives a much better result. You are the master of guilt-free dessert Natalie. Keep up the good work (:
these bars look so nice and moist! Homemade pumpkin puree must be great to have on hand this time of year.
These bars look so good! And I love that they are naturally sweet. Thank you for sharing!
These look divine! Loving the gogi berries! These are the perfect fall sweet treat!!
I always forget that goji berries exist. They’re such a beautiful topping, especially on these bars!
What a nice pumpkin recipe. I love the flavor and look of the goji berries with the cream cheese frosting. A perfectly unique special treat for the Holidays.
Wow, these pumpkin bars look incredible!! I wish I could grab a few out of the screen! Pinning to make sometime in the next couple weeks.