Pumpkin-oat Bars (gluten Free)

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 4 cups gluten-free oats
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup golden raisin (optional)
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup (optional)

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 degrees f. spray two 8x11, or 9 inch round, baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• 2 make oat flour: place oatmeal in blender or food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes until oatmeal resembles coarse flour. you may need to stop blender and stir oats a couple of times to ensure that all oats have been blended. note: oats are measured before you processes them.
• 3 in a large bowl mix oats, brown sugar, salt, spices, baking powder, and baking soda. make a well in the dry ingredients and add the pumpkin, apple sauce, oil, and vanilla. combine until mixed well. note: the batter should be looser than cookie dough but thicker than cake batter. if your batter is too thick add a little water 1/4 cup at a time until it looks right.
• 4 gently fold in chocolate chips, raisins, and/or nuts.
• 5 pour batter into prepared pans and gently smooth top. bake for 35-45 minutes, or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. timing will depend on what size pan you use, but definitely check around 30 minutes.
• 6 once out of the oven drizzle the top with maple syrup (optional). it soaks in so they wont be super sticky.
• 7 notes:.
• 8 you can use "old fashioned" or "quick" rolled oats. use gluten-free oats only if you want to avoid gluten.
• 9 try chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, or even butterscotch chips.
• 10 on occasion i've substituted part of the oats with granola cereal (processed into flour) with good results.
• 11 next i want to experiment with using pureed butternut or zucchini squash in place of the pumpkin because pumpkin is more difficult to find outside the holidays.