You must choose outfits very wisely when dealing with someone like Thanksgiving.
Believe you me, over the past few years I have learned the proper attire to wear on Thanksgiving.
I used to wear jeans. Can we just say worst decision ever? Not only do you have to completely suck it in after dinnertime comes, but jeans have to be the most uncomfortable post-Thanksgiving clothing in the world.
Then I went to dresses – cute, simple, and you can basically eat to your heart’s content without hoping and praying to God that a button doesn’t snap off your pants. The only bad thing about dresses is that you have to be quite a lady while wearing them. There’s no plopping yourself down on the couch with your legs over the side so you and your overly stuffed cousins can lie perfectly still and complain about how much you ate or how bad your stomach hurts. You do that in a dress after the age of five and people start to talk.
I finally discovered the best holiday attire in the world.
Leggings.
Leggings are the perfect go between pants and dresses. They’re kind of like pants so you don’t have to be quite as careful when you lay down for your nap in between dinner and dessert, but they’re cute enough to wear with a dress. Win. Win.
And to be perfectly honest with you (and when am I not?), Thanksgiving doesn’t stop after dinner. No, siree. Thanksgiving ends after dessert.. and coffee.. and maybe some whipped cream sprayed straight in your mouth. What? Does my family only do that? Because let’s face it – no matter how full you may say you are, when your hostess with the mostess announces that “dessert is out!”, everyone may not come running (it’s hard with that extra Thanksgiving meal weighing you down), but everyone comes. Immediately.
These pumpkin bars are basically the best thing since I have ever tried the William Sonoma Pumpkin Bar recipe my aunt usually makes for the holidays. Sadly I have not had a pumpkin bar since going gluten free – well, as of yesterday. As of today, I have had 3 pumpkin bars since going gluten free.
Someone. take. these. away. from. me!!!!!!!!!!! (x 1 million)
Gooey Pumpkin Squares
Makes: 12 squares
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ready in: 55 minutes
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice (or any kind of sugar will do!)
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 3/4 cup pumpkin butter (I used Trader Joe’s)
- 3 flax eggs, divided
- 1/2 tbsp. flour
- 2 tbsp. evaporated cane juice
- 2 tbsp. earth balance, softened
- 2 tbsp. almond milk
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
Directions: Combine 2 cups gluten free flour, 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice, and 1/2 tsp. baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until the ingredients are combined and reserve 1 cup of the flour mix in a separate mixing bowl. In two small bowls, make your flax eggs (one in one bowl, two in the other). For the one flax egg, mix 1 tbsp. flax with 3 tbsp. water and set aside. For the two flax eggs, mix 2 tbsp. flax with 6 tbsp. water and set aside. Mix the remaining flour mix with 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1 flax egg. Grease an 8×8 baking dish and pour the batter into the dish, spreading evenly.
In another small bowl, mix the 3/4 cup pumpkin butter, 2 remaining flax eggs, and 2 tbsp. almond milk. Whisk until smooth, and pour over the batter in the baking dish.
Mix the remaining 1 cup flour mix with 2 tbsp. evaporated cane juice, 2 tbsp. softened Earth Balance, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Use your hands to “cut” the Earth Balance into the flour until it is crumbly. Spread over the top of the pumpkin butter layer.
Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown.
Word of the wise – wait for these to cool because you want to be able to enjoy leftovers on Friday. Or, in my case, you want to be able to actually enjoy Thanksgiving dinner since you burned your mouth on these yesterday.
I think you understand the need for the leggings now.
Go make these you procrastinating bakers, you!
{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum! Even though Canadian Thanksgiving was over a month ago I will still be baking these
Hahahaha I was wondering where you were going with the perfect outfit thing, I never thought of leggings! Genius.
Dang Peter’s family and their all too many desserts! If I knew there weren’t going to be like 10+ dessert options tomorrow I would sooooo make these happen right away. Guess I will have to wait to bring these to one of our many holiday parties. No matter what – I WILL make these soon.
There is no such thing as too many desserts!!
this kills me—we already have 1 pie, a cheesecake, and a birthday cake!
But who says these can’t be made once my brother {okay, and I} plows through all of those
They look great…I love a good gooey bar, oats, pumpkin…and okay I use lots of brown sugar
I hope y0u have a great thanksgiving and good call on the no-jeans!
anything gooey is a win by me!!!
Those look soo yummy! I love gooey food
Ahhhh now your making my baking decisions even harder for tonight! I want to do a classic pumpkin pie and a bar/brownie…and I thought I had found my recipe until this!
Leggings! Genius!
I will be sporting leggings tomorrow too. I’ve already been thinking about my outfit for a week now trying to figure out the most comfortable yet still presentable thing possible. Leggins FTW.
Leggings always win in my book!
i totally agree!!! i was reading the beginning of this post thinking… i hope she’s going to say leggings…
in fact, i already started wearing them this week. it’s been and indulgent few days leading up to the big one. hope you have a great thanksgiving!!
haha! I have worn them a few times too!
Yummmmmm! Totally making these. Gooey is a great word.
Oh that looks good. You know, I once read a writer describe leggings at God’s gift to women to make up for those years of corsets and restrictive attire. I think it was a pretty accurate summary.
I agree with that statement… totally!
lol….how did you know I hadn’t made anything yet? Holding off until tomorrow!
I did this just for you.
Your pumpkin bars look phenom! Holy smokes.
Leggings are an eatin’ girls best friend 
Leggings. Chelsey, you’re brilliant.
I am with you with the legging attire! Excellent choice! These squares look amazing
HAHA, you crack me up! I’m thinking of trading my jeans for leggin’s tomorrow though. By the way, these look DELICIOUS!
Jeans = no good! Leggings all the way!
Hahaha this post was awesome. I completely agree with the jeans/dresses thing! Leggings are a perfect idea. And these look delicious as always.
Oh wow!
These bars look really yummy….. much better than the raspberry Splenda squares my grandma brings for Thanksgiving.
Oh, and I wear jeans on Thanksgiving. I can moderate what I eat very well (no more than 1/3 cup of a dish, unless it is the lemon-juice-squeezed sliced and baked yams my mom makes. YUMO! Those are too simple to have just 1/3 cup of!). Plus, being vegan, I can eat most of the dishes that are veganised guilt-free (the rest of my family are semi-vegitarians, and the friends and grandparents are regular eaters (Grandma is a diabetic, hence the Splenda in the squares).
I go all the way on Thanksgiving – no measuring over here!
I definitely have a pair of leggings laid out for tomorrow
This dessert looks amazing!
Bahah whipped cream in your mouth- why not! These bars look delicious and agree totally on the leggings…style factor like pants and comfort factor like tracksuit bottoms
!
Oh woow these look SO good.. YUM
Yes I’m totally with you on the leggings! They’re like a more acceptable version of sweat pants. Total win.
Also? These bars are a total win too. Definitely going to have to make them soon!
These look incredible! What kind of GF flour do you use.
And my leggings are all laid out and read to go.
Just Bob’s Red Mill AP! I do’nt mess around with all those different flours!
Ya had me at gooey…..these look SO good!!! I love bars with fruit in the middle!
I’m here to say I can confirm these bars ARE as amazing as they look! Made them late last night (in attempt to NOT eat them before the family feast today!) Well…guess what I had to try first thing this morning? Yep! Good things bars can be cut out of their baking pan and displayed on a cute tray and no one needs to know! Unlike the pumpkin pie in its serve only dish and the bundt style (GF!) carrot cake I made…it’d be way too obvious if i sampled those :0/ Can you tell I’m in charge of the feast desserts this year? I’m fine with it, its a challenge I’ll happily accept so i know what’s in them! Now I will go run so i can justify devouring everything later, even if its only my contributions ;o) Decked in my jeggings….which I find to also be the perfect marriage between jeans/sweatpants with the cuteness of leggings under a dress!
Oh and to the girl that asked about what kind of GF flour? Chelseys right, Bobd Red Mill is the most user friendly, but I have gotten good results with Brown Rice flour and Almond flour…skip buckwheat flour, it gives things a funky taste!
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Thank YOU! And sorry for all of those typos..,,I was THAT excited about this post :0)
I’m the total party pooper who’s gonna wear tight jeans to thanksgiving tonight. I’ve got a semi-date tomorrow night and can’t have a stomach full of stuffing and casserole when he comes over… lol
well played Amy Bax, well played.
Leggings! I know what I’m wearing today
But to be fair, I was wearing them when I read this….lol
EEEeeee I want to eat them! Also I only wear leggings. Also I’m wearing jeans right now but I hate pants so I usually wear leggings. I hate pants.
oh yummy!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
and that is exactly the reason why I just don´t do jeans. I wear leggins and tights all the time, leggins being my all time favourite.
The boyfriend came to my family’s party for dessert yesterday claiming he could not actually fit anything else into his stomach. Of course, once he saw everyone’s desserts he somehow found room. In my family we don’t even try to look cute. Yoga pants all the way!
leggings and dresses/tunic tops are the best kept secret. I wear that combo most days of the week!
I have pumpkin puree on hand. Could I sub that for the apple sauce and/or pumpkin butter?
I would say for the applesauce, yes – for the pumpkin butter, no. That’s what gives it the “gooey” part.
{ 1 trackback }