Do I need to say more? I want to eat all of these yummy Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

Ok before I get to this recipe, I just wanted to share how much I love being at home with my little guy. I am on cloud nine and maybe it has a little to do with the fact that I ate like three of these bars, but I know it has to be more because I am loving staying home and being with my son. Sometimes I almost feel bad for husbands and dads who don’t get the opportunity for this special one- on- one time. Countries like Sweden offer up to 3 years of maternity and paternity time, why can’t America do that? I know we have enough problems with jobs and unemployment so I will stop right there, but they might be on to something for sure.

Luckily for me, I have been officially home on maternity leave now for almost 3 weeks and because I saved up my leave/ vacation days I will be able to stay home with Dylan until he is almost 4 months. I know I am very lucky to have so much paid timed off and therefore I will not take this time for granted. Although it might be a little stressful and some days I wonder where the day went, I am trying to be positive and take this time to appreciate my little guy AND my family. I love the infant stage. Really all they do is eat, sleep and poop. They smell so good (minus when they poop) and they are so tiny and so cuddly. I hate to think this might be my last maternity leave. I tell people I am stupid enough to have a fourth and chase down that “girl,” but I am very content in the moment with my new family of five.  I am happy and above all I am blessed to focus this time on them! So here goes nothing…Here is to 4 months that I will be dedicating to become a better Mother, a better Wife, a better Athlete, a better Blogger and a better Army Officer; overall a better ME!!!!

Ok so back to this recipe. I do not mean to toot my own horn but this recipe is to die for; plain and simple. As many of you know, I do not bake often because let’s be honest my will power is NIL. I honestly ate half of these bars in the picture, no lie. I blame it on breastfeeding and that I want to eat everything in sight, at least that is how I am justifying it right now. Either way, since we moved and the baby came all in October, I felt  a little left out of all the yummy pumpkin recipes floating around on the internet so I knew I had to redeem my absence with a yummy Pumpkin Pie Recipe. After some research and recipe development, I second guessed my choice. Usually if you are going to make a pie crust from scratch, you already know they are high maintenance and very difficult to make. Despite the mini success of my blog, I am not very good with pastries and baking so I was flat-out scared. Instead of working on my weakness, I took the easy way out and ran away from my problems. Ha! Instead, I decided to make  my version of Paleo Pumpkin Pie because these yummy and gooey Paleo Bars are super easy to make and less frills. And again, not holding anything back, since maternity leave, “less frills” is my motto. There are days I look like a hot mess with bags under my eyes, no make up and sweaty workout clothes and, yes, I walk outside the house like that! So there you have it my “no frills,” yummy Paleo Pumpkin Bars!

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

 

These yummy Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars are delicious and easy to make! They are not only great to serve at your Traditional Thanksgiving feast but they would be great as well at your children's Thanksgiving school party, your work party, brunch or pre-Thanksgiving tailgate because it does not require any utensils and they are certainly less messy than traditional pie. The best part about these Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars are that you would never know they were Paleo so go try them, you will not be sorry!

Author: Our Full Plate

Recipe type: Treats, Dessert

Cuisine: Paleo

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• Crust
• 12 dates, pits removed
• 1 cup cashews
• 2 tablespoons of almond butter
• ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• Pumpkin Pie Filling
• 1 14oz can of unsweetened pure pumpkin pie puree
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of fresh grated ginger (Look at the instructions below for my tip)
• ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup of raw honey
• ½ cup of full fat canned coconut milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. First make the crust. Add all the ingredients for your crust into your food processor and blend.
3. Once all the ingredients are blended well, dump them in a greased 9x9 pyrex baking dish. Push down the crust until distributed evenly. Set aside and before you get ready to prepare your filling, clean out your food processor since you will need it again to mix your yummy pumpkin pie filling.
4. Next, add all the ingredients for your pumpkin pie filling into your clean food processor and blend. Have you heard about my trick to add fresh ginger to any recipe? Have you ever tried adding fresh ginger right from the store? It's a complete mushy mesh, right? Well what I do is as soon as I buy the ginger, I peel it and put it in the freezer. It lasts up to 3 months so I always have some in my freezer. What I do is when a recipe calls for fresh ginger all I do is go take a piece from my freezer stash and take the microplane and add it into the recipe and ta-da it beautifully "zests" into the recipe without a mess. Try it!
5. Add your yummy pumpkin pie filling on top of your crust and make sure it is spread out evenly again.
6. Put pie bars in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Take them out and cool in the fridge for a few hours before serving. I think they taste best when cold. You can serve them plain or whip up the remainder of the coconut milk for your homemade version of Paleo whipping cream and viola Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars. These did not last long in my house so next time I will be doubling them for sure.

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So who is running out and making these for Thanksgiving? If your Grandmother or Aunt already volunteered to make their traditional pumpkin pie don’t fret. These yummy Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars are actually great to serve at your children’s Thanksgiving school party,  your work party, brunch or pre-Thanksgiving tailgate because it does not require any utensils and they are certainly less messy than traditional pie. The best part about these Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars are that they are so delicious, you would never know they were Paleo. So please share these with your Non-paleo friends and knock their socks off (I love doing that and proving the world that Paleo foods and treats are yummy). Go, prove them wrong and create more Paleo followers and spread “The [Paleo] Movement”….