The Easy, Vegan Pumpkin Bars You Can Serve At Any Fall Party

Pumpkins aren't just decorative gourds to carve and display during spooky season, but also a favorite ingredient for countless fall-inspired baked goods. Pumpkin pie is the most famous pumpkin-based dessert, of course, but a flaky crust and custard filling requires butter, milk, and eggs — off-limits ingredients for vegan diets. Luckily, vegans don't have to abstain from the dessert table completely, as recipe developer Miriam Hahn has created a ridiculously easy recipe for vegan pumpkin bars with every decadent element of a pumpkin pie present and accounted for. Most notably, pumpkin purée is the star ingredient around which a custardy filling is created with classic fall-flavored spices like cinnamon and maple syrup. The bars' foundation is that buttery, flaky pie crust that contrasts the gooey, melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin custard and is as easy to assemble as a crumble or cookie crust. 

It requires a blend of both wheat and almond flour for moisture and a wonderfully nutty butteriness. The flours combine with coconut oil, sugar, and cinnamon to form a crumble that you simply press into the bottom of a baking dish to bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, make the pumpkin custard. While a classic pumpkin pie recipe utilizes sweetened condensed milk and eggs, Hahn swaps them out for soaked cashews, dairy-based milk, and cornstarch to provide a rich, buttery flavor pairing and a thick, cohesive, and pillowy texture. Simply blend the pumpkin mixture until smooth, before pouring it over the pre-baked crust, and then stick it back in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes.

While Miriam Hahn's recipe is strictly vegan from the start, we have plenty of pumpkin recipes to get you in the fall mood that you can easily make into vegan desserts too. The vegan food industry has come a long way, so you don't have to brainstorm creative or unconventional ways to mimic the creaminess of dairy products anymore. You can simply swap real butter with dairy-free butter in cookie, pie, and cake recipes; Tasting Table has tested and ranked various vegan butter brands to take the guesswork out of finding the best one. For instance, if you're making this pumpkin cheesecake or a cream cheese frosting, just swap Philadelphia cream cheese for a vegan cream cheese brand — we reckon Treeline's cashew-based non-dairy cream cheese is the best vegan cheese on the market.

While traditional pumpkin cupcakes or other light and airy baked goods rely on eggs for moisture and lift, a mixture of baking powder and baking soda is a perfectly adequate leavening agent for vegan baked goods. That said, whipped aquafaba mimics the light and airy effect whipped egg whites have. So, you can fold whipped aquafaba into the wet ingredients of a pumpkin bread or cupcake batter for an especially airy crumb. Pumpkin purée provides plenty of moisture to ensure the vegan baked goods don't dry out in the oven. Try the aquafaba trick instead of eggs in this pumpkin pecan pancake recipe.