I recently wrote about how much I enjoyed Elana of Elana’s Pantry’s Gluten-free Almond Flour Cookbook and her pumpkin bar recipe. I enjoyed that pumpkin bar recipe so much that I made it twice; first for a potluck, and then for myself. It was a very good pumpkin bar recipe. Writing about it reminded me how very much I liked that recipe. So, I decided to make it a third time. Hey, it might be dessert, but it is made from almonds and has squash (or pumpkin) in it. How guilty do I really need to feel about my addiction? I put some butternut squash puree and eggs into the food processor. Baby Yum decided this was a good time to start chewing on the sole of her shoe (by the front door). No, Baby Yum. That is not food. Remove shoe from mouth. Back to the baking. 
I put some grapeseed oil in the blender. Love that stuff. I’m so glad Elana has gotten me to use it, after I had two bottles at varying times go all funny-tasting due to not being used for years on end. Baby Yum is now doing a death-defying baby act on her high chair. No, Baby. We don’t play on our high chair. I check the computer monitor for recipe. Wait. I need to put agave in the food processor. Wait. Where is the oil listed in the recipe? I read it four times. There is no oil listed in the recipe at all. I’m impressed, but distressed over the wasted ingredients in the food processor. All that precious grapeseed oil, down the drain. And organic butternut squash. And then it occurs to me. Elana’s recipe may not have oil, but the standard pumpkin bar recipe has lots of it. I hadn’t put in the agave yet, which means that I could use any old sweetener I wanted. I check Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Yes! A recipe calling for 4 eggs, 1 cup of oil and a can of pumpkin. I had been doubling Elana’s recipe due to that whole being completely addicted thing. Perfect! I adapted it to be gluten free and changed the spices up and suddenly I was back in business with a gorgeous pumpkin bar recipe in the oven. (Fine, butternut squash bar- but it just doesn’t have the siame seasonal glamor as a pumpkin bar. ) The recipe came out. My father said incredulously “Did you make it from scratch?” I guess he’s not used to baking without a box mix. He seemed really impressed by the texture and flavor, so I will take it as a compliment. My husband rushed to make a cream cheese frosting. Another compliment. Oh, and I couldn’t stop gobbling the things. Really it ended up being quite a fortunate mistake. We’re getting down to the last third of the pan. I’m wondering if I shouldn’t make more….
Submitted to Gluten free Wednesday
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Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Bar Recipe
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Luscious fluffy pumpkin bar topped with cream cheese frosting
Ingredients
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup +2 tbsp. arrowroot starch 1/4 cup potato or corn starch 1/4 cup blanched almond flour 1 1/2 cup sugar (or palm sugar) 2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground clove 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 4 eggs cream cheese frosting (optional) – for dairy free use earth balance margarine, tofutti better than cream cheese, and powdered sugar, mixed to taste.
Directions
Line 15*10*1 inch pan with parchment paper and grease with organic palm shortening or your favorite dairy-free margarine. Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine eggs, canned pumpkin and oil in your food processor and blend until creamy. Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour your processed liquid ingredients into the well. Fold together until combined. Pour into greased pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Cool completely before frosting. Or, keep frosting in a small ziploc bag in the refrigerator and frost individual pieces at will. |
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