Recipe Alert! Homemade Gluten Free Pumpkin Protein Bars

This recipe came about after seeing so many awesome pumpkin recipes lately. Tis the season, right? Usually I just pass them along to my amazing baker friend Kim at Gluten Free is Life because honestly-I tend to not measure things too much. And as you probably know, that can cause problems in baking. I have learned though, that generally things like homemade protein bars, quick breads, and the like are much more forgiving. So I tend to stick to those for the most part.
OK, enough of my blathering-on to the good stuff!

Yes, these are the goods-those are slivered almonds on the top.

I think if the these recipes got together and had a baby, it would be these pumpkin protein bars. So we will call one “parent” the pumpkin blondies (which Kim made and are on Gluten Free is Life, and the original recipe came from Cara’s Cravings. The other “parent” would be the Protein Biscotti from the Squeaky Gourmet.. And also, I have to give credit to Jamie Eason’s “Oh Baby!” Carrot Cake Protein bars, which I made last weekend and rocked it. That doesn’t really fit with my parent/child analogy though. Oh well.

Anyhow-here’s the recipe for the Gluten Free Pumpkin Protein Bars as I made it:

Actually-wait. A couple things about cooking with protein powder. I have found that a protein blend works well-like a whey/casein blend, or a whey/egg blend. Straight up whey isolate sometimes seems to work fine, and other times doesn’t. It also seems to vary among brands. Also-whey isolates contain such tiny amounts of lactose (pretty much all of it has been removed) that people with lactose intolerance do just fine with it. I have not yet tried any of the hemp/gemma/pea/rice proteins. If any of you have, please let me know-I’m planning on trying them but haven’t yet. Another thing-cooking with protein powder does not damage the quality of the protein. Cook it, don’t worry about it.

OK-seriously here’s the recipe now! I will give both weights as well as measures as much as possible. Weighing is much more accurate, especially if you are in a weight/fat loss phase. But that’s another post for another day.

Spray 8×8 dish with something nonstick. I fill my Misto
with either Enova or Extra Virgin Coconut Oil Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients:
-230 grams pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) = 1 cup
-114 grams fat free ricotta cheese = 1/2 cup
-50 grams Gluten Free Whole Grain Oat Bran = 1/2 cup
-70 grams Cream Hill Estates Lara’s Rolled Oats = 2/3 cup
-6 tsp Spoonable Stevia or you can use 20 grams of Splenda granular = 1/2 cup or whatever sweetener you prefer, sugar equivalent of 1/2 cup. This may also depend upon the sweetness of the protein powder you use.
-1/4 cup egg whites (I use Egg Whites International)
-3 scoops vanilla protein (there are lots of flavors that would be good here-I was wishing I had a cake batter flavor)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 tsp maple extract
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp sea salt
-2 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
-12 grams of slivered almonds (to sprinkle on the top)

Combine your dry ingredients, combine your wet ingredients, then mix together. I forget to do this half the time and it all comes it fine in the end, so no worries.

Spread out in the pan, sprinkle the almonds on top, (press them in just a bit or they fall off-my lesson learned) and bake! For my convection oven was for 20 min, try 25-ish depending on your oven.

Macro breakdown with the ingredients I used: (Definitions of commonly used terms including macro)
Cut into 16 squares, 1 serving is 2 squares, so for 1/8th of the pan:

150 calories
3.6 g fat
20 g carbohydrate (4 of which are fiber)
12 grams protein

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes, leave me comments below! Also, if you have used a specific protein powder for baking you like-please share! Also, if you haven’t yet, sign up for my free guideline to setting up a healthy nutrition plan at the end of this popst, or in the upper right hand corner. Hands up for pumpkin!

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• What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies?
• Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy…
• Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition
• Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies