Healthy Pumpkin Blondies

These thick and chewy pumpkin blondies are not only healthy but absolutely delicious! Made with hearty oat flour, unrefined coconut sugar, and pureed pumpkin. The perfect fall baking recipe that is gluten-free and dairy-free friendly! 

Fall baking season is here! And If you love everything pumpkin spice, you will love these thick and chewy pumpkin bars. They’re a blend of a cookie and a brownie together but have all the flavors of pumpkin instead of chocolate.

What makes these bars healthier than most is by using oat flour (ground up oats) instead of regular flour and coconut sugar instead of refined sugar. They’re perfectly sweet, studded with chocolate chips, and are filled with decadent flavor!

Ingredients – What You Need

Below you’ll find the full list of ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe!

Oat flour: instead of regular flour, this recipe calls for oat flour which is ground up oats. You can use gluten-free if needed!
Pureed pumpkin: for taste and texture! Be sure to use puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
Coconut sugar: an unrefined sugar that works just like brown sugar.
Pumpkin pie spice: for pumpkin-y flavor!
Egg: be sure to use a room temperature egg so it doesn’t cool down the melted butter.
Vegan butter/regular butter: this recipe has been tested with both vegan and regular butter. Either work great!
Vanilla extract: to enhance the flavors.
Chocolate chips: I recommend using dark chocolate or semi-sweet chips.
Baking soda

How to Make Pumpkin Blondies – Step by Step

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• (1) Preheat oven to 350F. Then, whisk dry ingredients together – oat flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. 
• (2-3) Then add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently stir together (do not over-mix batter). Gently fold in 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

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(4) Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. Pour batter into the pan and smooth out. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips over top and bake for 22 minutes – test with a toothpick.

Let cool for 10 minutes, then lift edges of parchment paper from pan and slice into 9 or 12 bars.

Tips for Success

• Use pumpkin puree: be sure to avoid a common mistake in pumpkin recipes and use real pumpkin puree! Not pumpkin pie filling. 😉
• Using oat flour: you can either make it or purchase it. To make your own, add old-fashion rolled oats to a high-powered blender or food processor, then chop/blend until consistency is very fine like flour. Use gluten-free oats if needed. 
• Other flours to use: if you don’t want to use oat flour, you can swap it for a 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour blend or all-purpose flour.
• The chocolate: you can either use mini chocolate chips, regular chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks. I used a mixture of all three. Semi-sweet is great or use dark chocolate to keep things dairy-free!
• How to store pumpkin bars: to keep bars fresh, store in a glass/plastic sealed container at room temperature or in refrigerator for 3 to 7 days. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a flax egg and make it vegan? Yes! This recipe can be made with either a regular egg or a flax egg (3 Tablespoons of water + 1 Tablespoon flax meal).

What other sweeteners can I use? This recipe only works with coconut sugar or brown sugar. White sugar will not give the moisture needed to make them chewy or hold together. This recipe has also not been tested with honey or maple syrup so I can’t guarantee results.

More Pumpkin Recipes to Try

Healthy Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Flourless Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
Healthy Pumpkin Bread