Vegan Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispie Bars {no-bake}

If you like that sweet pumpkin flavor but you’re looking for something a little quirkier than a pie crust, these pumpkin pie rice krispie bars are your answer. As a bonus, they’re a good bit healthier, too! Optional dark chocolate layer. Use up that half of a can of pumpkin leftover from your pie!

Who’s tired of seeing pumpkin recipes yet? I feel like after Thanksgiving all of us (in the US anyway) are going to be crying orange tears of pumpkin pie guilt. I happen to still have quite the butternut squash collection in my cupboard at this time, so the fun won’t end after Thanksgiving for me. But I’ll try to stay on the savory side of things after this.

Speaking of future recipes, the next time I post a recipe, it will be on my new site – yupitsvegan.com. I’m planning to work out the details next Friday/Saturday/Sunday so that the week after Thanksgiving she is up and running. I will be redirecting all yupitsvegan.wordpress.com links to my new site, so any pins, favorites, or galleries on websites like Foodgawker will continue to work, just as before. If you follow my blog on WordPress, you should also be able to have a seamless transition. If you get my posts in some other way through the RSS feed, I do not have a definitive answer yet, but I will write a short post through the old feed to let you know what action, if any, you ought to take to stay connected.

I’m wishing to everyone in the US a loving and bountiful Thanksgiving holiday, and to anyone else around the world, a happy end to November!

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Vegan Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispie Bars

Rice Krispie Treat Base: I followed this recipe from Healthful Pursuit, substituting raw almond butter for the sunbutter and crushed graham crackers for the ground flaxseed. Her recipe worked perfectly for me.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Center (Optional): I let the rice krispie treat layer cool overnight, and then loosely followed the ganache outlined in Isa’s chocolate cake recipe and spread it over the top once it came back down to room temperature. I only had 4 squares of chocolate and I would use more next time if I was going to make a full, thick chocolate layer. You can see in the photos that only some squares have much chocolate on them. Delicious either way!

Pumpkin Pie Layer:

1 1/2 c. pumpkin puree (or substitute butternut squash puree)
2 tb maple syrup (up to 4 tb, to taste – add a shake more agar powder)
1 tb blackstrap molasses
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp oat flour (or other absorbent flour)
1/4 tsp agar powder

Prepare the rice krispie and (optional) chocolate layers according to the recipes I provided. Cool before proceeding to the pumpkin pie layer.

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients over medium heat, whisking steadily to incorporate the oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes until emulsified. Spread over the rice krispie treat & chocolate base. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before slicing & eating.

Pre-scoring the rice krispie layer where you want the squares to be, before adding the other layers, will make your life a lot easier come time to serve them up. But if you didn’t do that step, then letting it come to room temperature before slicing will certainly help.

Other absorbent flours to use in place of the oat flour could include coconut flour or maybe flaxseed meal. I think that quick oats might work, too, but I haven’t tried it. These will last for about 3 days in the fridge if you, like me, are a complete slob and don’t even put them in a closed container. If you cover them well, I would imagine they would last even longer, but probably no more than a week.

Linked on Healthy Vegan Fridays.

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