I'm happy to present this best Pumpkin Bars Recipe with dates, nuts, and lemon glaze. These chewy bites are complimented with a little lemon flavor and a lot of pumpkin spice. So good!
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How do you make pumpkin bars?
Well, it's easy! But I did have some help.
While digging into one of those old cookbooks at my Momma's - again. I found a recipe for Yummy Persimmon Bars. You may not know that persimmon recipes are hard to come by, so this recipe piqued my interest.
What's a persimmon?
Well, it's a fruit that resembles a tomato. It comes from a tree that grows easily in the mild climate, like in south Louisiana. I have a vivid childhood memory of biting into a persimmon before it was fully ripened. I ended up with puckered lips before getting the correct instructions on how and when to eat them: don't eat them before they become soft, and don't eat the skin!
After getting past the skin, the flesh is the pleasant part. A spoon removes the pulp easily, leaving the skin behind. Here's a link for more information about persimmon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon.
Since you may not have this fruit in your area, I tried the recipe with pumpkin instead, and I'm glad I did.
More Tasty Ingredients In Pumpkin Bars Recipe
Because dates are so popular, I've swapped the raisins with them in the original persimmon bar recipe. The dates benefit the bars with their natural sweetness helping to reduce the amount of white sugar in them, and their fiber gives good texture.
To accentuate the pumpkin, I find lemon juice always gives it a bright lift of taste. So I added some fresh juice to the bars and the glaze. It brings a delightful citrus-sweet surprise!
If you're not a fan of lemon, you can substitute the juice with milk. This makes a tasty glaze, also.
This is the perfect treat with spices of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, and with its healthful benefits, especially during the pumpkin-eating season.
You'll find these bars are delicious without the glaze, so make them any way you like.
More Louisiana Woman Recipes!
- 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake With Brown Sugar Glaze
- Soft Moist Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Spice Mix
- Pumpkin Muffins With Streusel
- Pumpkin Cheesecake With Pecan Streusel
- Bread Pudding With Pumpkin Pecan Praline Sauce
If you are blessed to live in a place with access to persimmons, use the persimmon pulp instead of pumpkin in this Pumpkin Bars Recipe, and let me know how they turn out. Thanks, and happy baking!
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Pumpkin Bars Recipe
Moist, nutty, chewy pumpkin bars made with dates and pecans are delicious with or without their lemony glaze.
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 30 bars 1x
Ingredients
Bars
- 1 cup canned or cooked fresh pumpkin
- 1.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1.75 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 egg
- .75 cup sugar
- .5 cup vegetable oil
- 8 ounces dates, chopped small
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour a 9"x13" or a 10"x15" pan.
- Mix pumpkin, lemon juice, and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.
- Combine flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl.
- Add egg and sugar in a large bowl and mix until they become a lemon yellow color; pour oil slowly into egg and sugar while mixing, then stir in dates.
- Spoon the flour mixture alternately with the pumpkin mixture into the sugar mixture while mixing; mix until well combined.
- Stir in the nuts and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely before glazing, then cut into bars.
Lemon Glaze
- Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice into a small bowl and keep stirring until smooth; the glaze will be thin.
- Drizzle onto the cooled pan before cutting into bars.
Notes
- The pumpkin bars are delicious, with or without the glaze.
- Persimmon pulp may be substituted for the pumpkin.
- To omit the lemon taste of the glaze, substitute milk for lemon juice.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Sweets
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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"Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude toward us."
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