Guest Post - Pumpkin Coconut Date Bars

Welcome everyone and happy Tuesday! I am very excited to share a guest post with you by Tina from Carrots and Cake. If you have not done so already, I suggest you drop over and pay Tina a visit. Her blog is really informative and very upbeat. It really is a great find and definitely one to bookmark.

Follow along below and make your own Pumpkin Coconut Bars.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour*
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 cup brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup of Splenda brown sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

*I used 1/2 cup of whole wheat and 1/2 cup of regular white flour for this recipe. The bars were tasty, but pretty dense. I recommend using 1 cup of white flour and nixing the whole wheat flour all together.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla, and oil, then mix in flour (both kinds) and baking powder.
3. Stir in dates, coconut, and walnuts to mixture.
4. Coat 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray and spread mixture evenly in pan (photo below).
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees until batter is mostly firm.
6. Top with additional coconut shavings and cook for another 8-10 minutes on 450 degrees until coconut begins to brown.
7. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, and the cut into bars (mine were
   approximately 2″ X 2″).

Here’s the mixture before going into the oven…

… and here’s the final product, piping-hot with golden-brown shredded
coconut on top.

I hope everybody enjoyed the guest post from Tina.  Feel free to comment and tell us what you think of these yummy coconut pumpkin bars.  Have a great day!

Zesty

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