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These amazing low carb gluten free pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are the best pumpkin treat one can ask for. Filled with sweet sugar free chocolate chips, chopped nuts and pumpkin seeds, you’ll want to make this pumpkin snack all year long! This recipe can easily be customized to be dairy free and nut free, just check the recipe notes and blog post below!
The Best Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars
When I first thought about making healthy pumpkin bars, I imagined some filled with different nuts or seeds and definitely chocolate! Pumpkin adds so much moisture to baked goods that I knew that I wanted to try and make keto pumpkin bars! Pumpkin also goes so well with chocolate that adding some chocolate chips to the batter was a definitive must!
I decided to add some chopped walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almond slices and chocolate chips to the batter to make it extra healthy! I really wanted these gluten free pumpkin bars to be packed full of nutrients, and be sweet, crumbly and moist.
If you were to skip the nuts, seeds and chocolate chips, you actually wouldn’t have to add the egg, but because the batter became thicker, I realized that it needed an extra wet ingredient to fluff it up and make it crumbly like I wanted.
The greatest thing about these scrumptious low carb pumpkin bars is that they can be eaten as a snack, dessert or even breakfast! You can also eat them with or without the cream cheese frosting! The topping is entirely optional.
The Best Sugar Free Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
These keto pumpkin bars are topped with the creamiest and sweetest keto cream cheese frosting recipe ever. This keto frosting recipe can be smothered over cakes like in my keto carrot cake recipe, piped over keto cupcakes like in my low carb pumpkin cupcakes recipe, or even filled inside muffins like in my low carb pumpkin muffins recipe.
This low carb cream cheese frosting is so versatile, it can go on a variety of low carb desserts. You can even eat it by the spoon and not regret a single bite. Personal experience here.
When making this sugar free cream cheese frosting, make sure to use cold ingredients, especially the heavy cream, so that it can whip properly and increase in size.
Once it’s whipped, though, you can leave it out at room temperature a little bit to frost your cupcakes and whatnot. I find it easier to pipe the frosting when it’s been sitting at room temperature for a little while.
The sweetener used for this keto frosting recipe is erythritol and stevia powder. You can easily swap the stevia powder for monk fruit extract powder if you want.
Powdered Erythritol is a Must
Make sure to use powdered erythritol as you don’t want to have a grainy texture the granulated sweeteners usually give in your sugar free cream cheese frosting.
You can buy powdered erythritol online from either Swerve or So Nourished. If you don’t feel like buying some, you can easily make some at home!
Homemade powdered erythritol is quite easy to make! All you need to do is add any amount of granulated erythritol to a powerful blender and mix for about 30 seconds. That granulated erythritol will have been pulverized into a nice smooth powder that you can use in your low carb baked goods and treats.
Want to Make Dairy Free Pumpkin Bars Instead?
If you are dairy free, no worries I got you covered. Simply swap the whey protein isolate for almond flour and you’ll be good to go! The whey protein isolate makes these gluten free pumpkin bars more soft and moist, but the almond flour works just as well. They’ll simply be less crumbly than with the whey.
As for the frosting, you’ll need to use a dairy free frosting. You can either use my dairy free whipped cream, the dairy free icing from my pumpkin bundt cake, or even this delicious looking creamy frosting from my friend Kim at Low Carb Maven. She uses a combination of coconut milk, palm oil and shortening to make it.
What about the Carbs in Pumpkin?
Some of you may be worried about the carbs in pumpkin. Since pumpkin is a squash, it is a little high in carbs, but not by that much. It’s actually a squash that has little carbs compared to other squash so it’s great to use in baked goods.
When buying canned pumpkin, make sure you choose a brand that is sugar free. A lot of pumpkin cans are filled with sugar so it’s best to look at the nutritional information on the back.
Make sure to use pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling as that has lots of added sugars!
I prefer to use the pure pumpkin puree from either Farmer’s Market or Stokely as they have 6g net carbs per half cup. If you can’t find Stokely pumpkin puree anywhere, there is always the one from Libby’s, but it does have 7g net carbs per half cup.
If you’re still not comfortable using pumpkin puree for these low carb pumpkin bars, you can use another filler like zucchini for a lower carb option.
How to Make Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
What I love about gluten free low carb baking is that there are never that many steps when it comes to making a cake. You usually never have to proof the dough or batter as you simply need to mix all of the ingredients together.
You’ll want to add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together. It’s important to mix the dry ingredients first before adding the wet ingredients to ensure that all of your spices and whatnot have been evenly distributed.
The spices added to this cake are the spices I usually add to pumpkin flavoured baked goods. This is my version of pumpkin spice, which usually includes cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, cloves and nutmeg.
Once all of your dry ingredients have been mixed together, simply add the wet ingredients in and mix with a whisk.
The batter for this keto pumpkin cake is not too thin, but not too thick. It’s easy to spread around so you should have no problem adding it to the baking dish of your choice.
Make sure to add parchment paper all around the baking dish to ensure that your keto pumpkin cake doesn’t stick to the dish. Add the pumpkin cake batter to the dish and spread evenly.
Place in the oven and bake for a good 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Don’t forget to let these gluten free pumpkin bars cool completely before frosting them with the low carb cream cheese frosting. You don’t want to have a melted cheese mess on your hands!
Once the cake has cooled down completely, spread the low carb cream cheese frosting all around, and voila! You’ve just made yourself some homemade pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting!
Almond Meal or Almond Flour?
Almond flour is usually blanched almonds that have been made into a fine powder, whereas almond meal are almonds that have been ground with their skin still on.
You can use both kinds of flours in this recipe without any problems.
I’m allergic to nuts. What can I use instead?
Nut free baking isn’t really my thing, but sunflower seed flour, or oat flour (if you eat carbs) should be a 1-1 replacement in this recipe. I have not tested this recipe with coconut flour, but you would usually just need to adjust the wet ingredients ratio and use less coconut flour than almond flour.
What sweeteners can I use in this low carb pumpkin cake recipe?
For this pumpkin cake recipe, I used 1/2 cup of erythritol and 3/4 tsp of stevia powder. Instead of that you can use one of the following low carb substitutions:
- 1/2 cup of Lakanto Golden Sweetener
- 1/2 cup of Sukrin Gold
- 1/2 cup of erythritol and 3/4 tsp monk fruit powder
- 1/2 cup of xylitol and 3/4 tsp stevia powder
- 1/2 cup of xylitol and 3/4 tsp monk fruit powder
If you eat paleo, then you would use 1/2 cup of either coconut sugar or maple sugar.
Make sure to use sugar free chocolate chips!
These scrumptious gluten free pumpkin bars are filled with creamy sugar free chocolate chips. I used the ones from Lily’s as those are my favourite kind. Lily’s chocolate chips are sugar free chocolate chips sweetened with stevia and erythritol. They make bags of chips or sell chocolate bars that come in various flavours.
You can buy Lily’s chocolate chips in various stores across the United States, Whole Foods is one. Other than that, they sell them online on Amazon, iHerb, vitacost or luckyvitamin.
If you eat sugar, but cannot tolerate dairy, Enjoy Life are another brand of chocolate chips that you can try. I’ve seen them at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and anywhere online.
What size of pan should I use?
The great thing about these pumpkin bars is that you can use any type of baking dish you have on hand! You can make pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cake, or any other baked goodies. You’ll of course have to adjust the cooking time if you make smaller baked goods like muffins or cupcakes, but other than that, any baking dish will work!
I personally used a 9X12 inch (22x30cm) baking dish and cut these healthy pumpkin bars into 12 slices.
How long do these low carb pumpkin bars last?
They will last about a week in the fridge and up to three months in the freezer. If you freeze them, make sure to wrap them individually in saran wrap and when thawing, you can either microwave them about a minute, or let them thaw naturally in the fridge for a few hours.
Final Tips & Possible Substitutions
Before making these scrumptious gluten free pumpkin bars, here is a quick recap of all my tips and possible substitutions that you can do for this recipe.
- Make sure to line your baking dish with some parchment paper so that the cake doesn’t stick. If you have a really good non-stick baking dish, just make sure to oil it first.
- Make sure to use refined coconut oil as extra-virgin coconut oil will give this cake a major coconut taste!
- Make sure to test with a toothpick the middle of the cake whether it’s baked or not as all of ovens differ in temperature.
- Make sure to use unsweetened pumpkin puree and sugar free chocolate chips!
- Instead of coconut oil, you can use butter, ghee, avocado oil, lard, shortening, etc. Any type of fat will work.
- Instead of pumpkin puree, you can use mashed kabocha, grated zucchini or carrots.
- Instead of walnuts, almond slices, or pumpkin seeds, you can use any other type of nuts or seeds you like.
- Instead of whey protein, you can substitute for 1/2 cup of almond flour. It just won’t be as fluffy and crumbly. It will also add a bit of carbs to the nutritional information.
- Instead of stevia, you can use monk fruit powder.
- Instead of erythritol, you can use xylitol, Lakanto or Sukrin Gold.
- Instead of almond flour, you can use sunflower seed flour.
- Instead of apple cider vinegar, you can use lemon juice or white vinegar.
Low Carb Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 210 g (7.41 oz) blanched almond flour (about 1.5 cup tightly packed)
- 50 g (1.76 oz) whey protein isolate (about 1/2 cup)
- 120 ml (0.5 cups) erythritol
- 3/4 tsp (3/4 tsp) stevia powder (or monk fruit)
- 2 tsp (2 tsp) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsp) baking soda
- 2 tsp (2 tsp) cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsp) cardamon powder
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsp) cloves
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsp) ginger
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsp) nutmeg
- 60 g (2.12 oz) chopped walnuts (about 1/2 cup)
- 25 g (0.88 oz) almond slices (about 1/4 cup)
- 35 g (1.23 oz) pumpkin seeds (about 1/4 cup)
- 75 g (2.65 oz) lily's chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup)
Wet Ingredients
- 240 ml (1 cup) unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 8 tbsp (0.5 cups) refined coconut oil (or butter, ghee, shortening, lard)
- 1 tbsp (1 tbsp) apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice, white vinegar)
- 1 (1 ) egg
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 227 g (8 oz) cream cheese (1 philly block)
- 90 ml (0.38 cups) heavy cream
- 45 g (1.59 oz) powdered erythritol
- 1/8 tsp (1/8 tsp) stevia powder (or monk fruit powder)
- 1/2 tsp (1/2 tsp) vanilla essence
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix together.
- Add the wet ingredients to that same bowl and mix to combine. The batter shouldn't be too thick, nor thin.
- Line a 22x30cm (9x12") baking dish with parchment paper. Pour in the pumpkin bar batter into the baking dish and spread evenly. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Once the cake is baked, take it out of the oven and let completely cool.In the meantime, you can make the cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the cream cheese to a bowl and whip with your beaters until softened. This should take 20-30 seconds.Add the erythritol to combine.Pour in the heavy cream in 4-5 batches. This is so that the cream doesn't splatter everywhere.Beat for a few minutes, until the frosting starts to thicken up.Once it's thickened up, add the stevia and vanilla to the frosting and mix to combine.
- Once your cake has cooled down, you can then spread the cream cheese frosting all over the cake evenly.This makes 12 bars.
WATCH THE RECIPE VIDEO (must disable adblocker)
Notes
- Make sure to line your baking dish with some parchment paper so that the cake doesn't stick. If you have a really good non-stick baking dish, just make sure to oil it first.
- Make sure to use refined coconut oil as extra-virgin coconut oil will give this cake a major coconut taste!
- Make sure to test with a toothpick the middle of the cake whether it's baked or not as all of ovens differ in temperature.
- Make sure to use unsweetened pumpkin puree and sugar free chocolate chips!
- Instead of coconut oil, you can use butter, ghee, avocado oil, lard, shortening, etc. Any type of fat will work.
- Instead of pumpkin puree, you can use mashed kabocha, grated zucchini or carrots.
- Instead of walnuts, almond slices, or pumpkin seeds, you can use any other type of nuts or seeds you like.
- Instead of whey protein, you can substitute for 1/2 cup of almond flour. It just won't be as fluffy and crumbly. It will also add a bit of carbs to the nutritional information.
- Instead of stevia, you can use monk fruit powder.
- Instead of erythritol, you can use xylitol.
- Instead of almond flour, you can use sunflower seed flour.
- Instead of apple cider vinegar, you can use lemon juice or white vinegar.
Nutritional information is provided through calculations made on fatsecret.com. They are approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on mypcoskitchen.com. Sugar alcohols are included in the fiber count. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber (which include sugar alcohols).
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