Ben and I are thinking about vacationing somewhere fun between Christmas and New Years this year. Actually I should say “vacation” in quotes because taking a trip with small children is just watching them in a different place, but still. Change of scenery! No cooking and cleaning! Get me outta here!
That said, our first pick was Vail, CO because nothing says rest and relaxation like driving through the rockies during a winter snow storm in a minivan. Oh my gosh I am turning into such a crochety old woman. HA! Seriously though, we went to Vail for the first time back in 2016 when it was just Ben, Lincoln, and me (so weird to think back to when we only had one child – seems like someone else’s life!) and fell in LOVE. Such a magical place – feels like a little German village.
Anyway, do you know how much hotel rooms, condos, heck – subbasement rentals cost in Vail between Christmas and New Years? Let’s just say it’s OUT OF BUDGET. I mean, of course Vail is very chichi and that week is prime skiing time, but sometimes you pray you’ll get lucky. Guess I should plan a trip to Vegas for that!
I actually did hit the jackpot last week when I decided to give my uber popular Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal Breakfast Bars a fall spin and ended up with Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars. Here’s what you need to know about these soft and dense oatmeal bars that make the perfect breakfast or snack: they’re healthy, easy to make, and taste like sweet, spiced pumpkin cake. We ate an entire pan in 24 hours. SO INTO IT!
We’ve finally gotten into a good rhythm with getting the boys up and ready in the morning and, long story short, Ben is in charge of breakfast…which commences at 6:45am. Woof. Even longer story short, nobody hates mornings more then Ben. NOBODY. That said, he really appreciates when I have breakfast bars sliced and waiting in the fridge so he can slap a couple onto plates then stand sleep while the boys have at ’em.
Now fall officially kicks off next weekend and, although it was a sweltering 90 degrees here today, these bars were a great way to kick off the new season. Syrup, spice, and everything nice!? Ahem. It’s definitely too hot for Easy Pumpkin Spice Lattes but it’s never the wrong time for these bars which you can prep on the weekend and enjoy all week long. They’re INSANE warm from the oven but again, keep perfectly in the fridge. You can even individually wrap the bars in saran wrap and freeze.
Onward!
How to Make This Recipe:
This is a 1-bowl recipe so start by whisking up the wet ingredients in a large one. That includes pumpkin puree, an egg, milk (any kind – I use unsweetened almond milk,) coconut oil, vanilla, and pure maple syrup. None of that pancake syrup, ya’ hear?! I buy organic maple syrup at Costco and it’s just fab.
Next stir in the dry ingredients including gluten-free oats, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, chia seeds, and pumpkin pie spice.
I make oat flour from gluten-free oats in my food processor – just process for a minute or two until the oats are finely ground. If you already have oat flour on hand, you can use a scant cup in the recipe instead.
Pour the mixture into a nonstick sprayed 8×8 baking pan then bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Check on the bars at the 25 minute mark – if the edges are already turning golden brown, place a piece of foil on top which will allow the center to bake through before the sides brown too much.
As I mentioned, these bars are killerrrr warm but also keep super well in the fridge to slice and eat all week long. Hey, warm, cold – it doesn’t matter, you are going to LOVE these perfectly sweet and spiced pumpkin oatmeal bars! Enjoy!
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Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
Description
Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars are a delectable gluten-free breakfast or snack recipe that's flavored with pumpkin pie spice and pure maple syrup. Healthy, easy, and delicious.
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 cups gluten-free old fashioned oats, divided
- 1 cup milk, any kind (I used unsweetened almond milk)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees then spray an 8x8" baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Add 1 cup old fashioned oats to a food processor or blender then process until oats have turned into flour. Set aside. (Alternatively you could use a scant cup oat flour.)
- Add milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla to a large bowl then whisk to combine. Add remaining 1-1/2 cups oats, oat flour, chia seeds, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt then stir to combine. Fold in chopped pecans then pour batter into prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the center has set. Check on the bars at the 25 minute mark - if the edges are browning too quickly, place a piece of foil on top of the baking pan. Cool before slicing into bars then store in the refrigerator, or individually wrap bars in saran wrap and freeze.
Notes
- I recommend GF Harvest gluten-free oats >
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
We just returned from a “vacation” or as we call it, a trip with our 1 and 3 year old. It is not for the faint of heart but definitely served the purpose of breaking up the routine for a bit. This recipe is so perfectly timed, I have a open can of pumpkin puree in my fridge taunting me to use it. I opened it for a pumpkin smoothie a day or so ago. Thank you for all you do!
Ah, it’s fate! I hope you love them! Where did you guys go for your vacation?
We went to Ohio to visit family. Three year old had constant melt downs from being out of normal environment and the one year old wanted to nurse all night long. It was a blast!
I made these bars last night and proceeded to eat 3…I told myself I was sharing with the kids (which I did in very small bites), but in reality I basically ate 3. Delicious!
These look soooo good! I cannot wait to start baking with pumpkin! I love the oat flour and almond milk use in these :)
Me too – it was so fun to get back into the fall baking spirit!
These sound delicious! Would almond flour work?
I think they might end up too dense, but let me know if you give it a try!
I used almond flour in place of the ground oat flour and they turned out great! These have such a wonderful flavor to them and are surprisingly sweet! My 1.5 y/o son loves them too!
I had been planning on making your blueberry oatmeal breakfast bars to freeze for post-baby life in November, and now I think I will have to make these, too! Although I can’t be sure they’ll make it to the freezer. We went to Vail at the end of May in 2017 and it is still one of my favorite trips. Colorado is just so insanely beautiful and full of spectacular outdoor activities.
Ugh, I know! I always come home planning our next trip out there – always signs of a good vacation. ;) Congrats on baby, Paula!!
Oh man this looks delicious! If we don’t have gluten issues, would we just sub a cup of regular flour? Thanks!
Hmm, I’m not sure – I tend to think they might end up too dense. If you don’t regularly buy oats, you could scoop some up at your grocery store’s bulk bins!
Are the chia seeds necessary in order for this to come together texture-wise, or can they be omitted? They’re the only thing I don’t already have in my pantry :).
You can leave them out though I might add a heaping 1 cup oats to the food processor when making the oat flour to ensure the bars don’t end up too liquidy (the chia seeds absorb a lot of liquid.)
YUM! All things currently in my kitchen right now too ;)
Perfect! Hope you love them, Kelli!
These look amazing, making them for sure. Love your blog..
My colleague has four children under the age of 10 and she says vacation is just yelling at your children in a different place. Ha! My husband and I are thinking about flying to Texas between C-mas and NY if we can get cheap flights and ringing in 2019 with friends. We shall see.
I just packed my last blueberry oatmeal breakfast bar from the freezer-looks like this version will be on my to-do list for tonight!
I love this recipe and will try it
today, I’ve been in the kitchen all my life. Eating unhealthy crap growing up,now vegetarian
and wanabe vegan. My message to you is you don’t need the baking soda/powder it contains aluminum, really bad for us. Your muffins etc. will come out
fine, nort as fluffy, but the other flavors will be more distinct and yummy, that aluminum taste gone!!!!!
Some baking powder does not contain aluminum.
Look for Rumford Baking Powder. No aluminum and can be found in most grocery stores.
Baking soda NEVER contains aluminum.
It’s easy to find baking powder without aluminum.
Baking soda and piwder are used for leavening; skipping them changes the texture for the worse.
Can’t wait to make these, Kristin! I make the maple cinnamon ones all the time, and just tried the apple cinnamon ones, and made some with shredded carrots and fresh pears. Yum to all of them! Hope all is well with you and Ben and your growing family.
Yesssss! I was just thinking I need to find a recipe for pumpkin oat bars to use up a can of pumpkin I have in the fridge. This is PERFECT! I love all of your oat bar recipes and this one looks equally amazing!
I was literally looking for something JUST LIKE THIS this weekend! Thank you!! Can’t wait to try them out!
could you recommend a substitute for coconut oil, or is the texture essential? could I use olive oil instead and have it turn out okay?
I haven’t tried the pumpkin recipe yet, but I’ve tried all her other oat bar recipes using melted butter with good results.
I think you’d be able to taste the olive oil so I’d probably use a neutral oil like avocado or vegetable!
Good luck on vacation planning! You deserve it. Go somewhere not too far and consider taking a teenager that you trust with you to help with kids. That way you could leave the kids to go have dinner out etc and you get more of a break. The teen gets a free vacation! The bars look glorious but would they be okay to leave out the nuts?
These look amazing and I love all things fall! Can’t wait to try! Thanks!
Made these today for breakfasts this week. Omitted the pecans bc my kids “hate” nuts, and used flax meal in place of the chia seeds. Yum!
How much flax meal did you use? I was hoping to sub this too.
For this particular recipe I usually use 2 heaping Tablespoons flaxseed meal + 3 Tablespoons water.
I made these today and they were such a hit! My husband and son were both a little sceptical, but then proceeded to devour a quarter of the pan. I doubled the amount of pumpkin spice because I like my baking extra flavorful. I’ll definitely be making these again.
I’m so glad you all loved them, Cassie! Thanks so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
Made these over the weekend. Delicious!
These bars look so delicious! I have been wanting to bake something so I need to make these over the weekend. Love when you have GF recipes that are easily DF as well :) thank you
Um, these are delicious! I didn’t have any chia seeds so I added a tad bit more oats but I think next time I’ll stick to the original amount. They don’t hold together very well but that maybe because of the extra oats.
Have you tried these in muffin form? I’m thinking they would be perfect for the freezer when my new baby comes!
Can the maple syrup be swapped with something else? Maple in baked goods tastes like coffee to me and I don’t like coffee.
You could try honey or maybe coconut sugar?
Delish! Just made some this morning with my 3 year old, and she agrees on the delish part. I subbed apple sauce for the coconut oil (because I didn’t have enough) and also made 12 muffins (because I don’t have an 8×8!). Definitely a keeper!
Reporting back after making these bars not once, but twice! They are delicious 😋 looking forward to eating them for breakfast this week
[…] At the very top of the week, I opened that first can of pumpkin and got my fall (okay, regular) apron on. I turned this pumpkin zucchini chocolate chip loaf into muffins, and baked up mini squares of these pumpkin maple chia oat bars. […]
Made these this weekend. So good! I’m declaring them my favorite of your oatmeal breakfast bar recipes, but I’m a fan of anything pumpkin! The kids gobbled them up, too.
Yeah!! So glad to hear it, Cari!
Kristin have you ever made a double batch of these goodies in a 13×9 pan? It would save some time since I make these so often. Time? Temperature? Thanks!!!
My husband is diabetic and the nutritional information that should be accompanying any of your recipes is MISSING from ALL of them. The recipes are useless sans the nutritional information. How about adding it to your website offerings? Hmmmm??
How b*tchy is this comment? I don’t know how you put up with this kind of stuff. Not hard for her to copy and paste all the ingredients into another website to get nutritional info but no no, you, provider of free recipes, should have done this for her. Yeesh.
Anyways. Just made these. DELISH! Thanks
I don’t have pumpkin pie spice; could you substitute cinnamon?
Sure!
Love these breakfast bars. I’m trying to figure out how many WW points they are as I plan to make them again.
These are so delicious and moist! My 3 year old went crazy for them! (I told him it’s “pumpkin cake” because he *thinks* he doesn’t like oatmeal, haha).
OmGee! Just took these out of the oven. Divine. Only one problem. I’m going to want to eat more than one. Thanks Kristen!
Oh I know the feeling! I’m a two bar minimum kind of gal myself! ;)
Hi there. Would there be a good substitute for canned pumpkin that would still work consistency-wise? I’m currently outside the US and I’m not sure how easy it would be to get canned pumpkin where I am. Or should just roast some butternut squash (in coconut oil) and then mash it? Please and thank you!
That could work! The taste would be a little different of course, but as long as the moisture level is similar to canned pumpkin it should be ok!
I live outside of the US and steam local pumpkin all the time for pumpkin recipes. The color isn’t nearly as nice (kind of a pukey green) but it works!
Idea for your next oat bar creation: peanut butter (or nut butter)!! I was out of pecans so I added a few peanuts. Game changer!
YUM!! Peanuts are so underrated – I add them to my salads all the time. So good!
What type of oil can I sub for the coconut oil?
Hi Julie! I haven’t tried these bars with any other oil except coconut so I can’t give a recommendation on that!
How can this recipe be vegan with an egg?
The V is for vegetarian, not vegan.
Wow, these are so easy and delicious! I wanted to bake something less sweet and this was perfect. Just the right amount of sweet but the pumpkin-y spice shines through. Thank you!
I think it needs a bit more pie spice which I will add next time and I used light olive oil for heart health and it worked fine. Thank you very tasty.
[…] 8. Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars […]
nice, and nicely different, thank you for this recipe!
How can I balance the recipe if I want to use less maple syrup? 1/2 C of maple syrup has 96g of sugar. That is personally too much for me and my toddler.
The 1/2 cup is for the entire batch- likewise the 64 g of sugar. Divide that by how many bars you cut the batch into for a more accurate count. (Unless you’re planning to eat it all at once, which, judging from all the positive comments, wouldn’t be unheard of!
Can you sub regular flour?
[…] Maple pumpkin oatmeal breakfast bars or apple cinnamon oatmeal bars […]
[…] Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats*if you do not have oat flour, pulse 1 cup of oats in a food processor until flour-like in […]
These look soooo good! I cannot wait to start baking with pumpkin! I love the oat flour and almond milk use in these :)
[…] Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats*if you do not have oat flour, pulse 1 cup of oats in a food processor until flour-like in […]
[…] 8. Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars […]
Hello from Canada – I can not tell you how much I love these bars ! I made a double batch for a brunch to celebrate my 50th and literally everyone asked for the recipe – to which I said “I can’t take credit” …Iowa girl eats ! Anyway, as I type, I am baking another batch for Christmas morning. Merry Christmas !
My bars are not the orange color shown in the pictures.