Spiced Caramel Pumpkin Bars {Paleo + Vegan}
We packed as much pumpkin spice as we could into these gooey fall blondies. A sticky caramel and chocolate chip center burst through a fudgey pumpkin bar, helping satisfy all your seasonal cravings.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Caramel
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 cup maple sugar or sub coconut sugar, but note this will darken the color of the bars
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon arrowroot flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
Bars
- 3 1/2 cups fine ground almond flour
- 1/8 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup plain pumpkin purée
- ¼ cup ghee browned grass fed butter, or butter flavored coconut oil
- ¼ cup maple syrup or raw honey
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup almond or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup Paleo-friendly dark chocolate chips
- 2/3 recipe pumpkin spice caramel
Toppings
- Remaining caramel sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Instructions
Pumpkin Spice Caramel
- In a small bowl whisk together sugar, pumpkin pie spice, arrowroot and salt. Set aside.
- Heat coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar mixture and stir to combine.
- Whisk in coconut milk and vanilla and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Simmer for 5-8 minutes, whisking often to prevent burning, until thick and smooth.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. Transfer to the freezer to set and thicken while you make your bars.
Bars
- While your caramel chills, prepare the bars. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 x 8-inch baking dish then line with parchment paper, leaving a couple inch overhang. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat pumpkin, honey or maple syrup, and fat or oil until melted, about 30 seconds. Stir until smooth and creamy. Add coconut sugar, vanilla, and milk to the wet mixture, and stir to combine.
- Pour wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until combined and a thick sticky dough forms.
Assembly
- Using a second piece of parchment paper, press half the batter into the bottom of your prepared pan, forming an even layer. Dough will be thick and sticky so just smash it together as best you can.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the batter. Using a large spoon, drizzle about 2/3 the caramel over the chocolate chips, and smooth into an even layer.
- Add remaining batter on top of the chocolate and caramel, and firmly press into an even layer using the parchment piece. Make sure to cover all corners, and spread batter as evenly as you can. There will be some cracks, likely with caramel coming through.
- Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is dry, set, and golden brown.
- Remove from oven, and let cool on a wire rack. Once the pan is cool enough to handle, transfer to the refrigerator to set, at least one hour.
- Once firm and set, remove from refrigerator and using the parchment overhang, pull bars from the pan. Set on a cutting board and slice into 9 large bars, or bite size pieces. It is important to cut the bars while they're cold because they get sticky as they warm up.
- Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed and drizzle with remaining pumpkin spice caramel and flakey sea salt if desired.
Notes
- Although this has not been tested, you could likely sub Tigernut flour for the almond flour.
- This recipe makes 9 large bars, or you can easily cut the bars into smaller bite sized pieces for a party.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!