These easy pumpkin bars are super moist, perfectly spiced, and slathered in tangy cream cheese frosting. What more could you want in a fall treat?
If you’re looking for a fun, festive, and sweet-but-not-too-sweet treat to make for Halloween, this easy pumpkin bars recipe is just the thing for you! It’s based on the pumpkin bread recipe that I make every fall. Like the bread, these bars are moist, tender, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. UNlike the bread, they’re topped in a rich, tangy cream cheese frosting, which really highlights the warm spices inside them. On cool fall afternoons, they’re the perfect treat to pair with a coffee or tea. But heads up: these pumpkin bars are seriously addictive. Eat one, and you’ll have finished a second (or third) before you know it!
Easy Pumpkin Bars Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy pumpkin bars recipe:
- Ground flaxseed and water act as an egg replacer in this recipe – they thicken the batter and help it rise.
- All-purpose flour and almond flour make these pumpkin bars super moist and tender. I love using this combo in baking – find it in my blueberry muffins and banana bread, too!
- Pumpkin pie spice fills these bars with warm autumn flavor. I like to use this homemade pumpkin spice blend, but if you prefer, you could substitute 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon cardamom.
- Baking powder and baking soda help them rise.
- Coconut oil adds moisture and richness.
- Maple syrup sweetens them up.
- Vanilla extract deepens the flavor.
- Pumpkin puree adds essential pumpkin flavor and moisture. Find it in a can, or make your own with this recipe! If you have leftover puree, use it to make pumpkin pancakes or French toast.
- And a dash of salt highlights the sweet, spiced flavor. Yum!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Combine the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another. Then, pour the wet pumpkin mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Spread the batter into a baking pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350° for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Now for the hard part: letting the bars cool! It’s tempting to slice them or frost them right away, but they must cool to room temperature first. If they’re still warm, the bars will crumble, and the frosting will melt!
Pumpkin Bars Recipe Variations
When it comes to topping these bars, you have a few options. They’re fantastic with the luscious frosting on its own, but you can also sprinkle a little something else on top. I love chocolate with any pumpkin dessert, so I add mini chocolate chips. Chopped pecans would be great here too. Have fun customizing the topping to suit your tastes!
Leftover frosting? Slather it on my carrot cake (see here for a vegan version).
Because I use part almond flour in this pumpkin bars recipe, it’s a natural candidate for a gluten-free variation. To make this recipe gluten-free, replace the all-purpose flour with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour.
Happy baking! 🙂
More Favorite Fall Desserts
If you love these pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, try one of these delicious fall desserts next:
- Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Apple Oatmeal Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cinnamon Apple Crumble
- Apple Crumble Pie
- Best Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- â…“ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- vegan chocolate chips, optional for sprinkling
- Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed and the water and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
- In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, almond flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and the flaxseed mixture.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Spread into the baking dish (the batter will be thick) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before frosting or slicing.
- While the cake cools, make the frosting: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar, and mix until smooth.
Notes
These were delicious! They were the perfect start-of-Autumn treat! 🙂
I’m so glad you loved them!
This is one of the best cakes I’ve ever had. My husband and I make it almost every week right now. Thank you for the awesome recipe!
I’ve made this twice now, and it’s SO delicious! Cake is super moist, and the cashew maple frosting has the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. Loved it, thanks for the amazing recipe!
Hi Kiara, I’m so so glad you loved the cake!
Love this recipe! I need to try this out.
Hi,
Came across your site recently and thought I’d give this recipe a try. Followed instructions to the letter and it worked a treat. Loving this site. keep up the good work.
Andy
Hi Andy – welcome!! I’m so glad you loved the recipe.
Thanks for beautiful pictures and recipes!
Very Like It
===Diana===
https://hits-people.blogspot.com/
Planning to make this today, looks delicious. Can I sub whole wheat all-purpose four for the white or will that change the consistency?
Thanks.
Hi Amy, it’ll be a little bit more dense but I think it’ll still be tasty. I often like to use whole wheat pastry flour over regular whole wheat because it’s a bit lighter. Hope that helps!
Didn’t have ww pastry flour, so used white all-purpose flour per the recipe, came out great! Easy and delicious.
ooh, yay, I’m so glad you loved it!
This recipe is so good, Jeanine! I’ve already made it twice and have no plans to stop.
Ha ha, I love hearing that! Thanks for taking a sec to come let me know 🙂 xo
I made this cake the day the recipe showed up in my inbox. It was delicious. Light, not to sweet, easy to make and stayed fresh tasting for days. I didn’t have any canned pumpkin so substituted some winter squash purée I had cooked up earlier. Thank you for your great recipes.
Hi Laurina, I’m so happy to hear that it worked so well with the fresh squash puree! Thanks for the feedback 🙂
I love your website and recipes! I’ve never used as many recipes from one site as I do from yours. I’m a fairly new follower, about 2 months now.
This pumpkin snack cake sounds amazing.
I sincerely hate to be one that can’t eat something in a recipe, but I seem to be allergic to all seeds (hemp, flax & sunflower are the worst). So weird and I’m not liking this at all. Nuts are fine.
Is there a substitute for flax seed? I really want to make these snack cakes and will if I can find a way around the flax seeds.
Thanks!
Hi Terri, I’m so glad to hear that you’ve been loving the recipes! I haven’t tried making this with an egg, but I’m sure it can be done. I would probably try 1 egg with 2 tablespoons water (omitting the 1/4 cup flax and 1/4 cup of water). I can give it a try sometime later this week and let you know!
Now that you mention it, it seems that I have heard you can sub an egg for flax seed and vice versa. Sorry I didn’t think of that. Thank you for the suggestion of adding 2 T of water with the egg also. I wouldn’t have thought of that. I’ll try it too and let you know!
Yep, exactly, the reason for the flax is to substitute the egg… it’s not always a 1:1 swap, although it’s usually easier to go from flax to egg than vise versa. Let me know how it goes!
So good, but so hard to cut into 24 squares and eat just one! And why did I never think of making a vegan cream cheese frosting? Thanks!
Ha, ha, I’m glad you loved them!
If we’re an egg eating household, is it safe to assume I can sub in 4 eggs for the flax?
Hi, I would try 2 eggs… but know that I haven’t tested this with eggs so I’m not sure exactly how it will turn out. It’s not always a direct swap. Hope that helps!
This is cake is super yummy. I made it gluten free by substituting the regular flour with Minimalist Baker’s diy gf flour mix. Came out perfect. Thank you so much!
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks for the gluten free tip!
Would the consistency be thrown off if I used only all-purpose flour? I’ve never worked with almond flour before since we have nut allergies in the house.
Hi Abby, I would probably add more oil so that they don’t turn out too dry (since almond flour is fatty). I can’t say for sure without trying it myself, but I think 2 additional tablespoons coconut oil might do the trick.
Hard to believe this is really vegan! It looks soo amazing.
So yummy!
great recipe, fun to make too, also a great recipe to share, thank you for sharing it!
We unfortunately don’t really have pumpkin puree here in the UK, is it just what it sounds like (cooked blitzed pumpkin) if I had to make my own or is there something more to it? Thanks!
– Natalie
http://www.workovereasy.com
I used a baked sweet potato i had in the fridge and it turned out great!
In the UK any large Tesco or Sainsbury’s will stock it in the American section of the world food aisle, or you can buy online from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose or Ocado.
thanks Jaclyn, that’s great to know!
I love the photos, especially the ones in which you label the ingredients. Thanks for beautiful pictures and recipes!
thanks Marni!
can you use all almond flour so it is gluten free?
Hi Colleen, I haven’t tried it that way, so I can’t say for sure. I think it might be too dense and not cake-like without altering the other ingredients as well.
You might try replacing Bobs Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend. It works really well for things like this. ?
Hi, I made this gluten free by using the stated amount of almond flour and using Bob’s Rrd Mill gluten free for the other flour, and it was terrific!
Hi Ellen, thanks for sharing! I’m happy they worked out with Bob’s GF flour mixed in.