Pumpkin you say? Don’t you know it is all the rage? My husband tried again this year to cultivate an heirloom pumpkin patch in our back garden, and again it was a bust. This year, slugs were the problem. Well, the squirrels didn’t help. Next year, we need to figure out the slug problem. I am guessing a combo of straw and diatomaceous earth might do the trick. Luckily, canned pumpkin is way easier to work with anyway! My kids and husband are requesting pumpkin based desserts constantly, so I am glad that time of year is rolling around. It just feels weird to make pumpkin pies in Spring.
Instead of pie, I made pie-like bars. They are not very pretty due to the icing getting all melty, but they tasted great all the same.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Custard Bars with Buttercream Frosting
Bar Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 15 oz can plain pumpkin
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 cup sifted gluten free flour (Namaste)
375ºF
Greased 9×13 glass pan
Mix wet ingredients, plus sugar and spices in large bowl. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Incorporate flour into wet mixture, mix by hand with a spoon.
Pour batter in to a greased 9×13 cake pan. Bake at 375ºF for about 20 minutes. You want this to be a pumpkin pie texture, so don’t over bake.
Let cool.
Icing Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
- 2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons milk
With your eggbeaters/hand mixer/stand mixer, combine butter, vanilla, salt, and milk in a large bowl. Add half of your powdered sugar. Mix on medium speed. Add the other half. Once combined, mix on high speed to give it a whipped texture.
Spread over your cooled bars. (Mine were not cool enough and my icing got weird.) You want to work quickly before it gets stiff and tears up the bars.
These bars are plate and fork bars. It is basically like pumpkin pie pudding with frosting on top. Which is why we kept the amount of sugar in the bar itself low.