Kick off the fall season with these Healthier Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting that are moist, delicious and taste just like cake, but without any butter or refined sugar!
Wow I can’t believe it’s already September and you know what that means! Boots, scarves and pumpkin EVERYTHING! I was so excited to whip up my first pumpkin recipe of the season and oh were these bars delicious. I mean they’re basically slices of heaven CAKE that are moist, delicious and a much healthier option than most pumpkin bars out there that are full of butter and refined sugar, but I promise these don’t sacrifice any flavor!
I sweetened these with a little maple syrup, but you really don’t need much because the combination of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and nutmeg make up for lack of sweetness. I also added some Silk Almond Creamer (they recently just came out with their new pumpkin spice flavor YAY!) which not only added even more pumpkin flavor, but also made the frosting super creamy!
How to Make Pumpkin Bars
These bars are full of all my favorite fall spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice along with a whole can of pumpkin puree and sweetened with a little maple syrup. The combination of these flavors just scream FALL and this recipe truly couldn’t be any easier to throw together! Simply mix your dry ingredients and your wet ingredients in separate bowls, fold the two together then pour the batter into a prepared baking pan sprayed with a little oil. Bake for 30 minutes, cool and top with cream cheese frosting and voila! The easiest pumpkin muffins you’ll ever make.
For this recipe I used an 8×8-inch baking dish which yielded about 16 good size bars (trust me the serving size is much bigger than the photos show!), but you could easily make the servings smaller and cut about 25 pieces if sharing with a lot of people.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Now let’s talk about this cream cheese frosting! It’s creamy, perfectly sweet and you can literally make it in under 5 minutes! Yes it really is that simple and I promise you it’s the easiest thing you’ll make this season. Just throw your softened cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer along with the vanilla and maple syrup mixing on high. While it’s still mixing, add in your Silk pumpkin spice almond creamer one teaspoon at a time until the frosting is perfectly creamy (I used about two teaspoons, but you may want to use three or more if you like a thinner frosting). You could also just use regular milk if you don’t have any creamer.
Then once your pumpkin bars have cooled completely, spread the cream cheese frosting evenly overtop and sprinkle with a little extra pumpkin pie spice. Slice into bars and enjoy! See how simple?? After making these I brought them into work and received SO many requests for the recipe so I’m excited to share them with all of you!
More Pumpkin Recipes You’ll Love
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Donuts
- The Best Almond Flour Pumpkin Bread
- Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes
- Pumpkin Spice Mug Cake
- Healthy Pumpkin Spice Smoothie
Hope you all enjoy these Healthier Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting and if you love this recipe as much as we do, please leave me a five-star rating below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #eatyourselfskinny! I love seeing all your delicious recreations!
RECIPE
Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Kick off the fall season with these Healthier Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting that are moist, delicious and taste just like cake, but without any butter or refined sugar!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 4 eggs, lightly whisked
- 1/4 cup Silk Almond Creamer (or milk of choice)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups 100% pumpkin puree
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 (8 oz) package 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 teaspoons Silk Almond Creamer (or milk of choice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, Silk almond creamer, maple syrup and pumpkin puree and stir until well-combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Pour pumpkin mixture into a prepared 8×8-inch baking dish and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the pumpkin bars sit for 5 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the bars are cooling, add cream cheese, maple syrup and vanilla extract to the bowl of your stand mixer (or you can use a hand mixer) and whip on high until smooth. Add the Silk Almond Creamer a teaspoon at a time until you have your desired creaminess.
- Evenly spread cream cheese frosting over the bars once they have cooled completely, top with a little extra pumpkin pie spice and cut into 16 pieces. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts:
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 193
- Sugar: 10.9 g
- Sodium: 230.9 g
- Fat: 7.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.6 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 7.3 g
* Please note that all nutrition information are just estimates. Values will vary among brands, so we encourage you to calculate these on your own for most accurate results.
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