I have been meaning to post these for over a week but my laptop fiasco has been messing with my life! If you don’t follow me on Instagram, then you have no idea what I am talking about LOL! But a few weeks ago my waterbottle emptied out in my purse and waterlogged EVERYTHING, including my laptop. 72 hours in rice and with much coaxing, it does turn on – but only sporadically (Me writing this is one of those times!) I am getting a new laptop smack dab in the middle of Mercury Retrograde which is clearly not ideal, but I really can’t wait any longer considering I can’t work or homeschool my children effectively with the current situation! But I am grateful that it works tonight so that I can share this with you!
Ok, enough blabbering about my tech problems, and on to the good stuff. The Chocolate Pumpkin Caramel Cookie Bars.
A layer of amazing chewy and crispy cookie bars studded with almonds and white chocolate (but you could totally do semi-sweet chocolate chips here too.) Next comes a rich, creamy vanilla pumpkin caramel that oozes just enough when you cut into it! Topped with an easy chocolate ganache and sprinkles that make these extra festive.
Kind of a funny thing- I have been using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free 1:1 Baking Flour and it has been having a bit of a funny chemical reaction that has been leaving green streaks in the baked goods after a day or two. Since I did not take pictures of these until the next day- Green streaks!!! It’s nothing to worry about and I rationalized that it was rather Halloweeny!! Turns out this is a reaction between the chlorophyll in sunflower seeds and baking soda. I read that a few teaspoons of apple cider vinegar would correct this, but I have not tried it yet. If you used almond or cashew butter, you would not have this problem!
So, I have to say that the finished product is absolutely delicious. Like we were making ourselves a little sick from eating so much! But then I cut them into small squares (they are really rich so small works!) and froze them so I can bring them to Coco’s schoolroom on set for the kids and teachers the Friday before Halloween!
- Cookie Bars:
- ½ cup sunflower butter (or you could use any nut butter)
- ½ cup vegan butter
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 baking flour
- 10 ounces white chocolate chips (I used vegan)
- ⅓ cup slivered almonds (optional)
- Pumpkin Caramel:
- 10-ounce can Coconut condensed milk
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup oat milk or other non-dairy milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- Kosher or sea salt
- Chocolate Ganache:
- ⅔ cup oat milk
- 10 ounce bag vegan chocolate chips
- Sprinkles (optional)
- For the White Chocolate Cookie Bar Layer:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, Prepare a quarter sheet-pan with sides. I lined it in foil and then added a piece of parchment so nothing would stick.
- Combine the butter, almond butter, sugar, pumpkin puree and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer. When it is smooth and creamy sprinkle the top with salt and baking soda and then make sure it is well combined in the batter. Sprinkle in one cup of flour at a time and usie the electric beaters to combine it into the batter. When you have combined all of the batter ingredients and they are smooth, add the white chocolate chips and the almonds and briefly mix into the cookie batter. Press the batter into the pan and flatten it until you have a smooth, even layer of cookie dough. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees, and then take out to cool.
- For the Pumpkin Caramel Layer:
- When you take the cookie bars out, it is time to make the caramel. Combine everything in a medium or large pan (you want to give it lots of room to bubble up without spilling over) and stir it with a whisk until well combined, THEN turn on the heat to medium heat. When it starts to bubble keep a close eye on it, adjusting the heat as needed so that you don’t have any boiling over! I cooked it for about 20 minutes (or you can check that it is coating the back of a wooden spoon. As it cools, it thickens up to. I let it cool for about 10 minutes before pouring over the baked cookie bars. Sprinkle lightly with kosher or sea salt.
- For the Ganache:
- Combine the chocolate chips and ½ cup of the oat milk in a bowl and place in the microwave for 45 seconds or so. Then stir the ganache until it starts to get smooth and then add the remaining milk and whisk until smooth. Continue to stir until the ganache has mostly cooled. Pour it on top of the caramel layer which should be mostly set up. Use the back of a spoon or offset spatula to smooth it out and then sprinkle with decorations if you want. If you are skipping sprinkles, an additional sprinkle of salt would be nice, or you could sprinkle with almonds!
- Let the bars set up for a few hours. I then ran a large chefs knife under hot water for a minute, wiped it dry on a cloth and then sliced the bars cleanly. I repeated this every two cuts so that the knife would very evenly slice right through the chocolate and caramel with clean lines and it worked very well. Serve immediatley or freeze in airtight containers or bags until serving.
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Thank you Heather. These look delicious and I will be making these ASAP. Query, do you think the oat milk could be subbed for another non dairy milk? Thanks.
Absolutely Jennifer! Whatever works best for you!