These gluten-free pumpkin bars will be the star of your next potluck. Made in a large baking pan, these bars have a cake like texture with the added deliciousness of a sweet cream cheese mixture swirled throughout. The perfect fall dessert that kids love!
Blend the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl beat together the sugar, butter, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, blending in between each egg. Stir in the pumpkin puree.
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 4 large eggs, 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
Fold dry ingredients into the wet. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, fold the ingredients together until just blended. Pour into prepared baking pan.
Cream Cheese Mixture
Blend ingredients. To a medium-sized mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour and stir in with a spatula.
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons gluten free all purpose flour, 2 large eggs
Add cream cheese mixture to pumpkin mixture. Drop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on top of the pumpkin mixture. Drag a butter knife through the cream cheese and pumpkin mixture back and forth to create "swirls".
⭐️ Bake. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean.
Notes
*This recipe has been tested multiple times successfully with Cup4Cup gluten-free all-purpose flour blend.
Spice Note:
Individual herbs and spices do not typically contain gluten, however, sometimes a non-gluten anti-caking agent (e.g. calcium silicate, silicon dioxide, or sodium aluminum silica) may be added. Spices can be adulterated with wheat flour or wheat starch to reduce cost, but this is rare.
Tips
Add xanthan gum to this recipe if missing as an ingredient in your gluten-free flour blend
Adjust the cooking time accordingly based on the size of the baking dish
Double check the can is pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling) before blending into the wet ingredientsCCK Features both Gluten-Free Guidance and Kids Cooking Instructions: If you're new to eating gluten-free we understand it's overwhelming trying to figure out which foods may contain gluten and which ones don't. All of our gluten-free recipes marked with this symbol ✅ represent foods that need to be checked for gluten or cross-contamination.The ⭐️ symbol in the recipe below denotes the steps in which kid cooks may need a helper (depending on age). If there is no ⭐️ symbol, that step (or recipe) doesn't require a helper.