Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars (V + GF)

I made these for Thanksgiving for my daughter who keeps GF and loves pumpkin pie. They were a big hit! I made them a day ahead, and I think they tasted even better the second day (I couldn’t wait to eat one!). I used brown sugar, but otherwise made the recipe as written. I loved being able to lift the bars out with the parchment paper and present them as individual bars on the serving plate (like your picture). That way, no one knew there was one missing! I will make these often for myself — they are delicious and a healthy dessert in our house!

Oh my goodness, this was delicious!! Because of intolerances I try to avoid dairy and coconut and my in laws don’t do gluten. It’s been so much easier finding recipes nowadays especially with recipes like yours! But you have done it! This is just as good as traditional pumpkin pie but dare I say better? It was easy, fast, and delicious. I used avocado oil in the crust and a tad bit more sweetener in the pie filling as well as just subbing out coconut sugar for brown sugar. I am so happy I can have pumpkin “pie” again! Thank you for all of your recipes. I also love your green bean casserole, lemon loaf, and plum upside down cake. Always excited to try more of your recipes!

These were incredibly easy to make and absolutely delicious!
My sister summed it up pretty well-portion controlled pumpkin pie even healthier.

Thank you for this wonderful fall treat!

Excellent!

Made this today and it was absolutely, positively, the most bestest thing that has ever graced my autumn kitchen table! I LOVE the creaminess & perfectly-spiced-y-ness of the filling, which works perfectly with the flaky, crunchy crust. Honestly this recipe is the best pumpkin pie on earth, without all the hassle of a traditional pumpkin pie, and much much much healthier. In fact, I actually omitted the coconut sugar entirely from both the crust & the filling, which was a win for me because I prefer less processed sweeteners (put a couple extra tbsp of maple syrup in the filling to compensate) and it was still delightfully sweet! I will 100% be making this recipe again and again and again. And again. Non-gf eaters and non-veganers alike will adore this, guaranteed. THANK YOU!!

This recipe is outstanding! I enjoyed making these pumpkin bars and eating them! I found a nice Almond Milk Reddiwip that goes fantastic with these pumpkin bars and a cup of coffee. The only problem is that I cannot stop eating them!! 😂😂

Can you freeze these?

I made this last weekend and it turned out FANTASTIC!!! Thank you for sharing. I will be making more for Christmas :-)

I feel like this tasted better than regular pumpkin pie!

Thank you for this recipe!! It’s become a staple – I’ve made it around Thanksgiving for 4 years now. It’s always a hit with family and friends, and I love that this special diet adaptation is so tasty. I always add extra pumpkin pie spice because I love those flavors strong.

I added a 1/2 tablespoon of psyllium husk (+ water to hydrate) to the crust. It really helped hold the crust together and made it super crunchy!

The filling is sublime! I omitted the sugar from both the crust and filling, making this healthy enough to eat regularly for breakfast with no guilt.

This recipe was AMAZING! Everyone loves it and you’d never be able to tell it was gluten free! I did sub the almond flour for additional fresh ground GF oat flour (we can’t eat nuts) and it worked beautifully. I also used a 29 oz can of pure pumpkin in place of the pumpkin puree with no problems. This is a new favorite in our house, thank you!

Family loved these, as well as the lemon version. Might even like the richer pumpkin flavor over pie.

Can I substitute regular flour in place of almond flour in the Pumpkin Pie Bars?

I thought these were great! My friend & neighbor is vegan so I needed a recipe we could both enjoy, and my usual one uses both butter & eggs. I did use coconut milk instead of almond because that’s what I had at home. I normally top my pumpkin bars with raisins & walnuts and they were great on these! I saw comments saying there was too much crust so I eyeballed what looked like a good amount & used the leftover to make little leaf cutouts. I didn’t think the crust was too crumbly (recipe said 4-5T oil, I did 5) and I have no weird aftertaste like some people reported. It’s totally normal to use this amount or more of cornstarch in a recipe (see Junior’s Cheesecakes if you don’t believe me!) so I’m not sure what caused their problem. Thanks for the great recipe, I’ll probably use this one for gatherings going forward so everyone can enjoy it!

So delicious. I am outside the US so I couldn’t get pumpkin pie spice so kind of experimented with the spices (couldn’t find ground clove). So I wasn’t totally happy with how the spices came out but still loved it! I used oat flour instead of grinding the oats at home.

Coming from a celiac who needs gluten free recipes to also be free of oats, this was overall a 4 for me.

The pumpkin filling was delicious. I used fresh pumpkin purée, tapioca starch in place of corn, and additional spices and vanilla to taste. I blitzed the purée in a blender. Delicious.

I subbed the oats with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour (upon recommendation from MB). I believe the flour is dryer than pure oat flour so I used a little more oil and maple syrup to compensate. The dough came together beautifully and baked beautifully. But in the end, the crust was too powdery and the almond flavor was stronger than I liked. Since almond flour is expensive, I don’t think I’ll bother experimenting with this crust to get it to my liking. I’ll stick to GF pie crusts instead.

Well….I thought this was a complete disaster. It had such a bad, off taste. Before I threw it out, I tasted the filling alone. BINGO! It was phenomenal!! My almond flour must have turned rancid
For the lady who commented about the off taste, I’m guessing her flour had gone bad. Or, maybe the coconut oil.
Can’t wait to try again with a fresh bag of almond flour.

LOVE LOVE LOVE these pumpkin bars!!!! they are seriously the best. everyone in the fam loved them, even the boys ;)
thank you so much for this fun fall recipe!

I made these for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. The crust was delicious! I took your advice and ordered the almond flour from Amazon. I loved the idea of having bars instead of a pie. No one would ever know that this was vegan and gf. These will definitely be on the menu for all future Thanksgivings! Thank you for such an easy, delicious recipe!

Your recipes never disappoint Dana!
I made these deliciously creamy pumpkin pie bars for Thanksgiving. I subbed in crushed pecans & almonds for part of the almond flour in the crust. The coconut cream whipped topping is the perfect addition! Simple & satisfying. I wish I could’ve stopped at one piece. This bar recipe will definitely be on my table for holidays to come!

Why make pumpkin pie ever again when this recipe is SO easy and delicious!! My daughter doesn’t like pie crust and this recipe was a hit. The crust is more like a shortbread, cookie crust rather than the traditional flaky pie crust. One blender, one mess to clean up. Delicious!!

Glad I tried this recipe! I made it exactly as instructed with a few exceptions; quick oats instead of rolled, I didn’t need parchment to help flatten the crust, and I had to do the pumpkin spice substitute. I was worried that the crust would burn, based on other comments, but it was perfect (I used a glass 8 x 8). I didn’t think that there would be a big difference between eating it hot out of the oven (who can resist) or cold the next day, but I was very wrong. It was so much better cold the next day. The crust was almost too oat-y the first day, but tasted like shortbread the next. My sister loved it as well, and I love that it’s a healthy version of my favourite pie. Thanks for the recipe!

This is officially my favorite pumpkin recipe! I didn’t have maple syrup OR coconut sugar so instead I soaked some dates and blended them until they were a thick syrup consistency and subed that for both sweeteners. It worked great! I also didn’t have almonds or almond flour so I used a combo of walnuts and pumpkin seeds in my crust instead and just blended a little longer. I would eat this crust on its own! It’s my new go-to! Also, who knew whipped coconut cream was so easy!?!? So glad I clicked on that recipe to top it off.

This tastes like pumpkin pie with a shortbread crust. Tasty! The crust is much better than pie crust IMO. The only reason it’s not 5 stars is because the crust was a little thick. I did it in an 8×8 pan as recipe states. Next time I’ll do 1/2 to 3/4 of what the recipe crust calls for.

While I am not vegan, this recipe appealed to me on many levels. I am gluten free, I LOVE almond/oat crusts, and I LOVE how much pumpkin is in this.

I did make quite a few tweaks, but am AMAZED at how yummy this turned out, so I figured I’d share my personal changes:
*used turbinado sugar for the coconut sugar
*used unsalted butter for the coconut oil
*used 2% milk for the almond milk
*increased the butter in the crust to 7t
*increased pumpkin pie spice to 2t
*increased salt to 1/2t
*added 1/2t ginger

I know – a LOT of changes….but I just looked at this recipe and knew it would be an amazing base to really personalize to my own taste. Thanks for sharing!!

I love this recipe! I make it exactly as stated and it is just divine! I’ve been making them every weekend and they last a good 5-6 days in the fridge!! I’m obsessed!!!

My new favourite pumpkin pie recipe! This dish was sooo good while still being healthy. After leaving it in tjr fridge overnight for it to firm up, the pumpkin became so creamy and had a custard like texture which was delicious! Definitely saving this recipe and making it again.

Unfortunately, my only “miss” from the Minimalist Baker. I followed the recipe completely, except that I baked the crust for 15 minutes (instead of 20). Once I added the filling and baked again. I baked for 50 minutes, and the crust came out very burnt. I would recommend baking the crust very lightly, since it will be in the oven for 50 minutes when baking the filling. The flavor of the filling is good, but not sure I would make this one again.

I will definitely make this again for Thanksgiving. I’ve never made a crust but this turned out so well and it was surprisingly easy (I used almond flour). I had to scrape the bottom of the blender a few times because the flour got compacted at the bottom. The filling is just sweet enough.

Most delicious crust ever. Also the most satisfying pumpkin pie alternative I’ve ever made. I assure you, these will never last long in my house. I found myself being a little greedy.

I used a 9×9 pan, the 8×8 would be better, but it was still a delightful treat!

This recipe both did and did not work for me… The filling turned out great, but the crust was soooo burnt! I’m not sure how. I followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of subbing agave nectar for the maple syrup since I was out of syrup. I made the crust and baked it for 20 minutes at 350 as directed. When I took it out after 20 minutes it was burnt! It wasn’t toooo terrible and the almond flour was expensive, so I went ahead and added the filling and finished cooking the recipe. Again, the filling turned out nicely but the crust was very burnt. It was still edible but you could definitely taste that the crust was clearly burnt.

For the filling, I didn’t have corn starch. Based on other comments, I used about 60% arrowroot flour and 40% tapioca starch. This seemed to be a good balance of the qualities of the starches as the filling set up nicely with no weird textures (someone had mentioned that arrowroot caused a film over the top and another mentioned that tapioca might make it slimy).

Sooo I guess I’d make the filling again but use a different crust.

I made this yesterday and it tastes fantastic! My German in-laws have never had pumpkin pie before, I had a butternut squash that needed to be used up, and had pretty much everything else I needed on hand and didn’t want to go to the grocery store. I doubled the recipe and used a food processor to make mine. Changes I made: used half ground almonds and half ground hazelnuts (in Germany you can buy bags of ground nut meal from hazelnut or blanched almonds at pretty much any of the grocery stores. It’s not quite almond flour consistency, but it works), used raw sugar, I used a bit less of the sugar in the pumpkin filling as the butternut was fairly sweet by itself and the in laws prefer stuff not as sweet, used a mix of rolled oats, rye, and spelt since none of us have issues with gluten, and I used cashew milk instead of almond because it’s what I had open. I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin pie in general, but I really liked this. This is definitely a recipe I’ll be making again! The consistency is really good and the nut crust is a nice change from the normal pie dough.

Wow! These turned out so well! I’m not vegan or GF, and didn’t want to buy more than what I already had in my cupboard so I made some substitutions:
-subbed regular flour for almond flour
-subbed butter for coconut oil (had to use about 2 tbsps more than the recipe called for)
-didn’t have cornstarch so I used 3 tsps of flour and added 1 egg
-extra spices and maple syrup

It came out like a shortbread cookie with pumpkin pie on top. YUM!

I’ve already left a review about how amazing these bars are, but forgot to leave a rating so here’s my 5 stars! Thanks again for creating these amazing recipes over and over again!

This recipe was not only INSANELY simple but it was also addictively delicious. (I expect nothing less after making tons of recipes from this site and never having a flop). If you’re looking for a super easy pumpkin treat, look no further. The bake time is a little long but it allows you time to whip up (literally) some whipped topping, a hot cup of tea, and cue up something to watch on Netflix. Thanks again for another amazing recipe!!!

I will start off positive and say the filling was absolutely delicious! I subbed arrowroot for corn starch and was so worried it wouldn’t firm up but after letting it cool and chill in the fridge it was perfect! The crust I probably wouldn’t do again. It just tasted like raw oats and I didn’t divert from the recipe at all. I don’t know if it needed more sugar or longer bake time but it just wasn’t my favorite. I think next time I’ll make some kind of date and walnut crust. Also I think a little bit of crunch on top would be nice. I might also add a few roasted pecans on top next time. For someone who is vegan and gluten free the filling of this recipe totally satisfied my craving of pumpkin pie! Thank you!

With some sticker shock from the cost of almond flour, I tried this recipe with raw almonds that I ground myself. I will say I didn’t much care for the flavor of the crust and am kicking myself. The price of the almond flour at Trader Joe’s was cheaper (not cheap) than the one she links at Amazon FYI. Next time, I’ll be sure to listen and try to flour (or maybe can you do the crust with just oat? coconut flour?)

Since I roasted the pumpkin myself, I left the almond milk out since I’ve heard that homemade puree tends to be more watery than canned. I added some extra syrup to get it sweeter and the pinch of cinnamon she mentions. The filling turned out great!

My came out a gloppy mess. What did I do wrong?

Made the recipe exactly as is, and they were FANTASTIC!! These bars are absolutely going in the regular seasonal rotation. Thanks, Dana for yet another wonderful recipe!

This is the third time I’ve made these pumpkin pie bars and each time they have been a hit. I find that they turn out best with a bit more cinnamon than the recipe calls for – probably a couple of pinches. They are truly delightful with the addition of some coconut whipped cream on top! What a perfect fall treat.

I made these squares and the were delicious!! You would never know they are vegan and GF.
thanks!! This is definitely a keeper

This made a delicious dessert! I decided to alter it slightly by making the bars into tarts. I lined 12 muffin cups with paper liners, divided the crumb mixture equally between them and pressed it onto the bottom and sides of the paper liner and baked for 10 minutes. They cooled for a bit, then I poured the pumpkin filling into each muffin cup and baked them for 25 minutes. Turned out great and were just the right size for a little treat!

My family wouldn’t eat it. :( I was able to with coconut cream and it was ok. I usually don’t post but wanted to say it’s not very sweet and with all the expensive ingredients, I’m sad to waste it. half the crust maybe?? And add extra milk and maple syrup maybe to make it better. I’ve loved some of the other recipes but this one I was disappointed.

I made these again today. We can’t seem to get enough of them. Used pecans in the crust this time. Yum!! Thanks!

I made this as is except instead of almond milk, I threw in a handful of soaked cashews (I had made my own pumpkin puree and it was a bit juicy). It was amazing! Next I’ll try cashew whipped cream with it. I am not usually a baker, and this recipe worked perfectly for me.