You can never have too many pumpkin dessert options!

And I love adding this one to my list. As usual, I’m featuring ‘better for you ingredients’ in this recipe. I sub half of the white flour for whole wheat, and lessen the use of refined sugar by adding maple syrup and whole cane sugar.   To thicken the pie, I use a combination of cornstarch, kuzu, and agar.

There is chilling time, but the dessert comes together without much effort. Its a must-try for all the pumpkin lovers looking for a new way to enjoy this seasonal flavor. Try it at your next holiday gathering!

Pumpkin Crunch Bar

Ingredients:

(1) 9-inch pie dough

Crunch Topping:

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup raw pecans, roughly chopped

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup refined coconut oil, melted (or mild vegetable oil)

Pumpkin Filling:

3 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup whole cane sugar (sub:brown sugar)

1/2 cup unsweetened non dairy milk

4 tsp vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon kuzu

1 teaspoon Agar powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

pinch ground cloves

pinch black pepper

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place baking rack on lower rack.

Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Press dough into the bottom of the pan going up only about 1/2 inch on each side. Using a fork, create holes along the length of the dough. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

While the crust is chilling, sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar. Whisk to blend. Add in the roughly chopped pecans. Mix in, and set aside.

 

Remove the baking pan from the refrigerator and layer a piece of aluminum foil in the pan. Fill with pie weights or beans.

 Pre-bake crust for 12 minutes. Take out of oven, remove beans or weights and set aside.

While the crust is baking, put all of the pie ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Pour into crust.

Tap pan down a few times to release any air bubbles and smooth out top. Evenly sprinkle the dry topping mix onto the top of the pumpkin layer.Mix the maple syrup and oil together and evenly drizzle over the top of the dry ingredients.

Decrease oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Bake for 40 minutes. Then raise heat to 400 degrees and bake for 20 more minutes to allow the top to crisp up.

Cool on a rack for an hour, then refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours .

Serve plain or with a big blob of coconut whipped cream!