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These pumpkin oat bars are amazing, and so easy to make! You will only need one bowl to mix the batter, and an 8 x 8 pan to bake them in! Not only making the recipe easy, but also the clean up. If you know anything about me, you know the clean up is my least favorite part of cooking. And if you’re new here, please don’t be like me, don’t leave all your dirty dishes until the very end. Do what my mom has tried to teach me for years, clean while the pumpkin oat bars are in the oven!
Look I won’t lie to you, I’m not a baker. I don’t want to use four bowls and sift my flour. I’m new to baking. Perhaps one day I will get a little more official about it (and a little less lazy), but for now I’m all about ease and delicious baked goods. Which usually means buying cookies from the store. But I’ve dedicated myself to trying new things, and learning more about cooking. So here we are!
Pumpkin Season = Pumpkin Oat Bars
October is coming to an end, I’m writing this post on October 19th. Tomorrow is Happy Stirring’s first birthday, can’t believe it’s been a year since I started this blog. It’s definitely had it’s ups and downs, and I may not be where I wanted to be one year in but I’m still trying my best! And that’s what life is all about, am I right? A lot of running this blog as been endless scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram looking for inspiration on what to cook and share next.
I also recently joined a forum for food bloggers called Food Blogger Pro. (Not an affiliate, just very happy I made the decision to join!) And they offered some unique views I hadn’t considered when creating content. Like what to people search for in what months, and what kind of content belongs in what season. And no surprise here, people are searching for “pumpkin” this month. In fact, according the google, the searches for pumpkin and pumpkin related things spikes in the last couple weeks of October. Which gave me the great idea for these pumpkin oat bars!
So there I was over the weekend, trying to prefect this pumpkin oat bar recipe. Because as I’m learning to cook, at the same time I’m learning how to run this blog. So I was a little late when it came to thinking of and testing out new pumpkin recipes. Last October (without even thinking about pumpkin season, might I add!) I posted this Spicy Pumpkin Soup and these Pumpkin Pancakes and this year we have these Pumpkin Oat Bars.
Pumpkin Oat Bars EVERYWHERE
So this year, as I mentioned I was a little less prepared. So after reading the Food Blogger Pro blog post about Octobers trending searches and ideas on Wednesday night. I sat down and started planning these pumpkin oat bars. By Friday I had the idea in my head, and some rough notes scribbled on the little note pad I carry with me everywhere. So, off to the grocery store I went to get some canned pumpkin puree. Friday night I tested the first batch and they were good, but…not exactly what I was aiming for. They came out more like a baked oatmeal breakfast, which was not exactly what I had in my head. Though the entire pan was finished by the next afternoon, I still wanted to try again, a different ratio of flour, oats, and pumpkin.
Saturday morning I tired again, and while they came out better than the last batch, they were too cakey this time. Back to the drawing board I went, and decided Sunday I would try one more time. Meaning I ended up making these three times, and the leftovers are lining our kitchen now. I pawned some off on Philip as he was leaving and took one to work with me to eat for breakfast. At least I won’t have to worry about work snacks, I can just bring some pumpkin oat bars! Thankfully Sunday they came out PERFECTLY. Exactly how I wanted, not too dry, or too oaty. Which is relieving because I had to take all my photos before even trying one!
Chocolate Chips & Maple Syrup to Finish
As Happy Stirring grows, and I learn more about running this blog, and cooking in general. I’ve learned some critical information when it comes to presentation and staging (thank god.) As you can from the previous blog posts I listed, I’ve come a long way in the year I have been working on this. I started this blog in October of 2019, and the Pumpkin Soup, and Pumpkin Pancakes were some of my first recipes I shared (and it’s painfully obvious, don’t worry I’ll work on getting some new shots and re-posting those!)
With that being said I decided for this photo shoot I would try to set the scene, and every shoot I do I get a little tiny bit better. By this time next year I’ll be a pro! I set up my backdrop, ran out to CVS and picked up some white poster board to use as a bounce board, and crammed myself and everything I was working with between our dining room table, and the sliding glass doors (always found the best lighting for selfies back there so I figured it was worth a shot.) Which meant sitting on the floor drizzling maple syrup on top of the pumpkin oat bars in my pajamas. Definitely looked ridiculous, but the photos came out beautiful, and the added maple syrup on top of the bars was a perfect addition. It may be optional but I wouldn’t skip it!
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Oat Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar lightly packed
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350° and lightly grease a 8 x 8 baking dish (I used pam for baking, but regular butter would work as well.)
- Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Press batter evenly in 8 x 8 baking dish.
- Cook 25 – 30 minutes. Let cool completely before trying to cut.
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