Congratulations! You’ve hit your goal and are now maintaining a healthy weight. There’s no reason why, with a little planning, you can’t celebrate a holiday…even one focused on desserts!
Check out this decadent-tasting treat that shockingly has only 75 calories per serving. It’s the perfect size to be eaten in place of a Healthy Fueling when in Maintenance. Plus it uses everyone’s favorite fall vegetable – pumpkin. Take them to a party or serve to your family. They’ll never know these bars received a healthy makeover!
Pumpkin Bars – Serves 12
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 4 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients first, then add the dry ingredients. Bake for 30 minutes in an 8 x 6 inch pan.
October 14, 2013 at 5:04 pm
Why coconut flour? That isn’t something most folks have on hand. Can you substitute white or wheat flour?
October 15, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Good question! I asked Suman and this is her reply: “I used coconut flour to reduce the total carbohydrates and provide fiber. Also, coconut flour retains moisture, so you actually use less than if you were to use another flour. If you were to use white or wheat flour, you would need to use closer to a cup. 1/3 cup of coconut flour is 165 calories, with 21 grams of carbs and 13 grams of fiber. 1 cup of whole wheat flour is 520 calories, 104 grams of carbohydrate, and 16 grams of fiber. So you can see, it would drive up the calories and carbs without providing a lot of additional fiber. It also provides a gluten-free option. You can certainly try using white or wheat flour, but you would have to increase the amount and probably add additional fat to make it moist. Flour in general isn’t very nutritious, so the idea behind using coconut flour was to create a dessert that was higher in fiber and lower in fat (since it requires less to remain moist) and show the benefit of trying new ingredients. I got mine at Giant [a major grocery chain in our area]!”
Hope that helps!
October 18, 2013 at 2:20 am
I will ise oatmeal instead of the coconut flour! Can’t wait to make this!
October 18, 2013 at 1:11 pm
can one eat these while on the weight loss phase? They sound delish!!!