Pumpkin almond butter cookie bars. Vegan. Gluten free.

Pumpkin Almond Butter Cookie Bars
Pumpkin Almond Butter Cookie Bars by Knead to Cook.

Pumpkin almond butter cookie bars. 

September is here!  My favorite month.  Of course our weather has been perfection and now that September is here – the heatwave has arrived!  So funny.  Everyone is back to school and work today so I’m back to a routine.  Went to the gym early and got a 5 mile progressive run in and then lifted.  Went to the farmer’s market to load up and came home to cook and bake for the week.

Now that September is here that means hopefully cooler days,  chilly nights, sweaters and jeans and the quintessential flavor ~ pumpkin everything!  So freaking excited!  Oh and our wedding anniversary and trip is this month.

Ingredients:

Flax egg (1 tablespoon mixed with 3 tablespoons of water) mixed and set aside for 5 minutes
1/4 cup of coconut oil (I used Skinny & Co.)
1/4 heaping cup of almond butter (I used Justin’s)
3 tablespoons of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of organic coconut palm sugar (you can use brown sugar if you don’t have this product)
1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup almond meal – or you can make your own with 1 cup of whole, raw almonds (see below)
1 cup rolled oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free)

Optional:  chopped nuts or chocolate chips (1/3 cup)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your glass 8×8 0r 9×9 baking pan and set it aside. You can also line it with parchment paper.


First make your flax egg and set aside.  Then in your Kitchenaid stand mixer with paddle attached, blend the coconut oil and almond butter until creamy.  Then add your flax eggs, pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, soda, powder and salt.  Blend until incorporated.  Then in your food processor or Vitamix add your almonds and oats and process until a find flour.  Add the flour to your stand mixer and blend.  If adding a mix-in, add it last and blend by hand not with the mixer.

Scoop out the mixture into your prepared pan and level that out with a knife.  The batter will be a bit sticky.  Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  I baked for about 24-28 minutes depending on the oven.  Remove and let the cool completely before you slice.  Enjoy!

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On the fitness front a quick recap of August.  I had my finger surgery/bone fusion/pins one month ago today.  I wasn’t permitted to workout for 2 weeks so my numbers are lower but only represent two weeks of activity.  This weekend we did ride our furthest yet!  35.4 miles.  Slowly but surely I working to a half century ride by the end of the fall.

Today I ran 5 miles to kick off September.  It was a progressive run starting with a warm-up of 8:24 – working my way down to 7:57.  I was glad to get to the 7’s again and it felt good.  I’m starting to feel a little more like I’m on the mend.  Great way to kick off fall.

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— Knead to Cook

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4 Comments

  1. I’m new to chia eggs…when is it added into this recipe? And if you have fine oats from store instead of making them in food processor, is that still a one cup measurement?