Earlier this summer I experimented with a gluten-free dream bar/coconut bar recipe that used a homemade condensed coconut milk sweetened with stevia. Sadly, I didn’t consider it a success as it didn’t really have the sweet, rich, mouth-coating flavor that I associated with dream bars. I also mistakenly added baking chocolate to the bar which made it hard to eat.

In researching ways to tweak the dream bar recipe, I stumbled upon a paleo-friendly recipe for pumpkin blondie,  using almond butter to achieve the moist chewy texture that I was looking for.

Before I embark on testing the concept with my cococonutty dream bar recipe, I recreated the pumpkin blondie to make it gluten free and with walnuts. I also went with coconut sugar instead of stevia to see how I would like it. And you know what, it turned out great!

• 0.50 Tsp, Cinnamon
• 0.50 tsp, Baking Soda
• 0.50 tsp, Spices, pumpkin pie spice
• 3 tbsp(s), Chopped Walnuts
• 180 gram, 100% Pure Pumpkin Puree
• 96 gram (2 tbsp), Almond Butter, Smooth (unsweetened)
• 2 tsp, Pure Vanilla Extract
• 0.50 tsp, Baking Powder
• 96 gram, Gluten Free Multi-purpose Flour (King Arthur)
• 2 tablespoon (21g), Organic Wild Forest Raw Neem Honey
• 18.75 tsp, Coconut Sugar

Preheat oven to 325F.

Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper and grease with a little bit of coconut oil. I left some paper overhang on my pan so that I could easily lift the blondies out.

Warm the honey and almond butter in a microwave-safe bowl, then add to a stand mixer.  With the mixer on low speed, add all wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.

Meanwhile, sift cinnamon, baking soda, pumpkin spice, baking powder, gluten free flour and coconut sugar in a bowl. Then slowly add these dry ingredients to the stand mixer, and continue to mix, scraping the sides of the bowl every once in awhile.

Pour batter into the pan, and smooth until even. I prefer jiggling the pan until the batter is level. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over batter, then place into oven to bake for 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into 16 squares (I used a pizza cutter).

The recipe instructions explained the low-and-slow bake time to achieve different textures. The latter bake time resulted in a medium moist blondie that was soft in the middle, crispy at the edges. When I bake this again, I’ll be sure to try the shorter bake time for a softer finish.

Yields 16 bars.

Nutrition calculator:

Calories 97
Total Fat 4 g
Total Carbohydrate 14 g 
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sugars 7 g
Protein 2 g