Easy to make low carb pumpkin chocolate chip bars are gluten free and sugar free. They’re so good even the kids love them.
The credit for these low carb gluten free pumpkin bars goes to Martha Stewart. I stumbled upon her recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares while searching for a pumpkin cake recipe.
I was looking to use up some leftover canned pumpkin from the truffles that I made earlier. I’ve actually been a fan of Martha’s for a long time and was fortunate to get tickets to see her live in NYC back in 2005 during the first week of filming her new show.
It wasn’t very difficult to adapt the original recipe to a low carb version. In fact, this pumpkin chocolate chips bar recipe was quite easy to adapt since it called for 2 cups of flour.
From my experience in low carb baking, the best flour replacement is a combination of both almond and coconut flours. The ideal ratio is 3 parts almond flour to one part coconut flour.
For convenience, I used Lily’s stevia sweetened chocolate baking chips. The whole 9 ounce bag worked perfectly in this recipe.
I did a quick measure and the amount in the bag was about 1 ¾ cups of chocolate chips. Less chips could be used if desired because these pumpkin chocolate chip bars were loaded with them in the original recipe.
UPDATE: I recommend using only half bag of Lily’s chocolate chips to cut back on carbs and cost. Recipe has been revised to use only 4½ ounces of chocolate chips.
This recipe makes a dozen large bars. If making for a large group or to cut down on calories, they could be cut into smaller squares. Very dense and moist, these delicious pumpkin bars are hard to resist.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars – Low Carb Gluten Free
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars - Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup Pyure all-purpose
- 1/4 cup low carb sweetener
- 1 large egg using 2 will help reduce crumbling
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum optional - to reduce crumbling
- 4½ ounces sugar free chocolate chips about 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease or line 9x13 baking pan.
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In large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Then beat in egg and vanilla. Add the pumpkin an mix well.
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Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. Fold in all but 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
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Spread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle reserved chips on top.
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Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool on rack before cutting.
Recipe Notes
Makes 12 bars Per bar: 288 calories, 23.5g fat, 27.6g carbs, 13g sugar alcohols, 6.3g fiber, 8.3g net carbs, 5.2g protein
AJ says
Is the swerve the confection or granular? The link brings you to the bundle.
Suzanne Van Englehoven says
I made these last night and am pretty pleased, yet want to ask opinion to tweak just a bit. I feel like they are pretty light in pumpkin flavor. Can you help me think of ways to boost the pumpkin flavor? Then, I had Sweet Lead Stevia powder in the house so used that (vs the specified brand in recipe). Wondering if the ‘sweetness’ quotient is bumping off the pumpkin flavor?? I used 2 eggs and they are very moist so that is great. I like the texture. It is just the pumpkin and sweet that are a bit off. I’d appreciate any recommendations. I think it is a good recipe. (It would be fun to bring to Thanksgiving for my non-low carb clan if I can tweak just a bit.)
Lisa says
You could try adding more pumpkin and sweetener.
Jaasy says
Hi there my niece has a nut allergy, is it possible to use more coconut flour in place of almond?
Lisa says
You’d need to make other changes to do that. However, you could replace the almond flour with finely ground sunflower seeds and the amount would be the same.
Mickie Gibbs says
Will any stevia work in place of the Pyure?
Lisa says
You can use any sweetener. Just keep in mind that Pyure is twice as sweet as sugar so you’ll have to convert accordingly (use twice as much of a one-for-one sugar replacement).
Cassandra says
Just made these – they turned out really crumbly and poofy – is this normal? I’m not really sure if they’re fully cooked, so I might have underbaked them – the edges were firm and starting to char a little. Any opinions on it would be nice! I’m hoping it firms up a bit when it’s fully cooled.
Lisa says
If they came out crumbly, you may have needed another egg and maybe some xanthan gum. They should firm up once cooled. Like most low carb baked goods, they are much better the next day after being in the refrigerator the next day.
Shelley says
I’m quite surprised that this recipe has 37.5 carbs per bar! How is the a low-carb recipe?? I’ve reviewed the ingredients and I’m not seeing where the carb count is coming from?
Lisa says
There seems to have been a mistake in the calculation from the software I was using and also noticed a significant amount of carbs from the chocolate chips. I recalculated and got only 8g net carbs per blondie after correcting the mistake along with using only half bag of chocolate chips. The original recipe had way more chips than is needed. I updated the nutrition information in the recipe to reflect the changes. Thanks for catching the mistake!
Philis Hileman says
REALLY enjoyed this recipe. I can not even have chocolate and it was still so so good. Thank you.
Lisa says
Without the chocolate carbs are lower so I’ll have to try it that way. Thanks for letting us know!