Healthy Pumpkin Bars

• servings: 8 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats (or quick oats; do not use instant oatmeal)

1/2 cup oat flour*

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup pumpkin purée (NOT pumpkin filling)

1 cup milk (of choice (skim, almond, soy, etc.)

1 large egg

1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I like Grade B)

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (almond butter, or other nut butter of choice)

1/2 cup desired mix-ins: chopped nuts

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Mix

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, milk, egg, maple syrup, and peanut butter until smooth. Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients, then gently stir by hand, just until combined. Fold in any desired mix-ins.

Bake

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until golden and set on top, dry at the edges, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Slice

Let cool in the pan completely, then slice into bars.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 (of 8) calculated with
• Calories: 222 kcal
• Total Fat: 5 g
• Saturated Fat: 1 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 22 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 38 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4 g
• Total Sugars: 14 g
• Protein: 7 g