Pumpkin Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Paleo)

This recipe is a mix between a bar and a cookie. These are oil free, aside from the natural oil in tahini.  These cookie bars are soft, moist and just sweet enough.  This recipe can easily be made in a 9 inch square pan, but mine were all in use at the time…hence round shape :).  Now that it’s done it actually reminds me of cookie cake…and who doesn’t love that?!  The tahini has a rather neutral taste, which makes it a great base for the recipe.  I have not tried almond or coconut butter, but feel they would likely work great as well.  This recipe will satisfy your soft, gooey cookie craving with good for you ingredients!

Prep Time 15 Minutes
Cook Time 25-30 Minutes
Total Time 45 Minutes
Servings 6 very large pieces, 8 standard pie slices

Ingredients

Cookie Bars

• 3/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut, unsweetened
• 1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Chocolate Glaze

• 1/4 chocolate of choice chopped
• 1 teaspoon softened coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9 inch round pan or 8×8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.  Line square pan with a strip of parchment, (~ 6 in wide) long enough to leave an overhang on each side. If using a round pan, cut out a circle piece of parchment the size of bottom of pan.  I actually trace around the bottom of my pan with pencil onto parchment paper.  Cut circle just a tad smaller, to the inside, of your tracing line.  Line bottom of sprayed pan with parchment.
3. In a large bowl combine tahini, pumpkin puree, coconut sugar and eggs. Whisk to combine. Add shredded coconut and combine with spatula.
4. In a second small bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.  Stir with wooden spoon or spatula.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet in 1 addition.  Combine by folding and stirring ingredients with a spatula.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.  I used mini chips, but feel free to use your chips of choice.
7. Transfer batter into your prepared pan of choice.
8. Place dish into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.  The top should begin to feel firm and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pan should remove clean, or with a few damp crumbs.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool until pan is cool to touch, about 30 minutes.  I found it best to then chill the pan for 1 hour, after resting at room temperature for 30 minutes, before removing from pan to ensure the cookie bars do not break.  I know I am asking a lot to wait this long before digging in!
10. After chilling, if using 8×8 square pan, lift bars out via the parchment overhang strips.  If using a round pan, place a cooling rack upside down on top of the round pan.  Grip the cooling rack and pan at the same time and flip the pan upside down. The bars should easily release.  Place a large circle plate over the bars to flip them over again to turn them face up.  Slide off plate into cooling rack
11. Melt chocolate and oil in small saucepan over medium heat, or via microwave safe dish.  Melt in 30 second increments at 60% power.  Once fully melted, stir to combine glaze and drizzle over top of bars via dinner spoon.  This is not suppose to be perfect.  You will likely get a few falling blobs like I did above.  It’s just a bigger piece of chocolate to eat – no harm done 🙂

Recipe Notes

•You cannot replace coconut flour with another flour in this recipe.  Coconut flour is highly absorbent, therefore you do not need nearly as much of it.  If I had to estimate I would say 1 tablespoon of coconut flour is equal to 1/4-1/3 cup of other flours.  I again cannot vouch for other flours. The coconut flour allows this to be paleo as well.

•I have not tried flax eggs in this recipe.

•You could replace coconut sugar with brown sugar or granulated sugar.  Brown sugar will keep the bars soft and moist.  Granulated sugar should also result in a soft bar.  In a standard cookie recipe granulated sugar produces a crisper cookie, but these bars have a lot of moisture and do not foresee them becoming crisp.  A thin crisp top would not be a bad thing though :).