Love pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin pie? Then I think you’re going to adore this recipe from dessert creator extraordinaire, Carol Lovett of Ditch The Wheat. Thank you, Carol!
Pumpkin Custard Bars (Grain-Free & Dairy-Free)
I love baking fall inspired treats. Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite fall flavors, and so far I’ve been making pumpkin treats weekly. For this guest post I wanted to share with you a pumpkin custard bar that you can serve at your Thanksgiving meal. Your family and friends will enjoy the creamy custard, infused with maple syrup and pumpkin pie inspired spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. The crust is allergy friendly. I made the crust out of coconut flour and it is scrumptious!
Don’t be intimated by making a custard. It’s really easy. All you are doing is heating up, in this case the coconut cream and maple syrup, and adding in little amounts the hot liquid to your egg yolks while whisking fast. This is called tempering. If you added the hot liquid all at once to the egg yolks you would cook the yolks and end up with scrambled eggs, which isn’t my kind of dessert (and I’m assuming not yours either).
Once you do that you are almost done making pumpkin custard bars. You must remember to be patient and let the final baked bar rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The results of the fully cooled custard is worth waiting.
Pumpkin Custard Filling
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut cream (the cream that rises to the top when you refrigerate a can of coconut milk)
- 6 tbsp maple syrup
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup canned pumpkin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk coconut cream and maple syrup. Simmer over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Now you need to temper the egg yolks before adding them to the heated coconut cream. Do this by slowly adding 1 tbsp of the hot cream/maple syrup mixture, whisking constantly. Then add another tbsp of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Add another tbsp of the hot mixture. Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream, and whisk.
- Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sea salt and pumpkin. Whisk until smooth. Pour over the baked crust.
- Bake until the custard is set in the center but not stiff which is about 45 minutes to 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Slice into bars.
Nutrition
Coconut Flour Crust
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tbsp coconut flour (sifted – 37.5 grams)
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, cream the coconut oil and maple syrup until smooth and well mixed.
- Add eggs and mix until smooth.
- Add coconut flour and salt and mix until well incorporated. Line a 4×8 inch dish with parchment paper.
- Press the dough mixture into the dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until done.
Nutrition
About Carol
Carol Lovett is a twenty-something young woman living in Ontario, Canada. Carol started eliminating gluten from her diet in 2011. Since then she went on to form the popular blog, Ditch The Wheat, and write her grain free dessert cookbook, Indulge. Carol is known for her baking recipes that feature coconut flour.
More Pumpkin Goodness
Easy Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal With Vanilla Glaze – Infused with warming spices and sweetened with maple syrup, this baked oatmeal is easy to make and very satisfying.
Pumpkin Spice Latte – Pumpkin is basically the official flavor of fall, and who are we to argue with that? This recipe is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it.
Pumpkin Granola – If you miss breakfast cereal, this spiced granola is delicious with milk, almond milk, or oat milk.
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Ooooh, congratulations! I’m sure he’s as beautiful as the last two! Thanks for posting gorgeous recipes right after having a baby 🙂 Can’t wait to read the birth story!
What size pan did you use?
I don’t have access to coconut cream, as it is described here, can I use heavy cream, instead? I’m going to make this if I can manage it 🙂
Thank you!
What size pan did you use?
Hi Heather,
I would like to buy your books but I don’t have a computer of my own, e-book capability, or way to print anything out. Any hope for someone like me?
Hi Donna, if you have a computer you can download to temporarily you can download, then open your email and send it to yourself as a file attachment, then delete it off the original computer. That way it would be stored in your email and you could access it from any computer. Hope that helps!
I am wondering if I might use fresh roasted pumpkin rather than canned pumpkin. I know the consistency is a bit different, so I am leary. Congrats on the birth of the babe! 🙂
You have been on my heart and mind a lot lately. I pray your birth was beautiful.
Is there really no sweetener in the custard?
6 Tbl maple syrup.
The maple syrup is listed with the coconut cream (a return needs to be inserted).
I cannot wait to try this! It looks and sounds delicious!
Congratulations to you and your family:) And those bars look just amazing, another must try:)
Do you think it would work to use the type of coconut cream that comes in a glass jar, also known as coconut cream concentrate or coconut spread, instead of the coconut cream from a refrigerated can of coconut milk?
Sorry, Carol – one more question. Is the pan you recommend (4×8) a loaf pan? I’m making this tomorrow morning and I have a glass loaf pan and will plan to use that if I don’t hear back from you. Sounds marvelous!
I have a couple more things to add after making this yesterday:
– The amount of coconut flour for the crust says 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp, sifted. I measured before sifting but wonder if it should be pre-sifted/measured after sifting (clearly I’m not a baker or I’d know this). 🙂
– Is the parchment paper for lining just the bottom of the pan? That’s what I did, but I also rubbed a little coconut oil on the sides of the pan once it cooled after baking the crust, just for good measure, and it worked well.
– I used baked pie pumpkin that I cooked myself (roasted cut side down until soft) and then pureed with a stick blender (I used the rest of it for a bowl of pumpkin, cream and egg custard – heavenly – and a pot of pumpkin carrot soup – wondrous). Since the freshly cooked pumpkin is less concentrated and probably contains more moisture than canned pumpkin, I added a bit more of it than the recipe calls for. I think in this case one should slightly increase the amounts of spices and sweetener in the pumpkin filling mixture.
– I love cardamom and added 1/8 tsp to the filling – yum. I also mounded both measurements of sea salt. I like desserts that are not overly sweet, but next time I’d increase the maple syrup by a tbsp or two.
So I made this today and it was delicious on problem was the custard filling wasn’t really very thick. It didn’t rise much so it was more cakey pie. It made the crust plump up with moisture. I will def keep trying but just curious if any one had any tips? Thanks and happy Thanksgiving
I know that when I would make a graham cracker crust (to go with a pumpkin pie) it needed to be prebaked so the crust didn’t absorb all the filling. I *think* another solution is to spread an egg mixture on the bottom. I’m no chef, though, but there are ways to combat what you’re dealing with!
In addition to Becky’s suggestion, and perhaps baking the crust a bit longer before adding the filling, you might also try increasing the amounts of everything for the filling (one more yolk, a bit more pumpkin, a bit more spice and sweetener).
I just pinned this so I don’t lose the recipe! So excited to try it out soon!
Congratulations to the potamus family! And thanks Heather and Carol for this beautiful recipe. Another pin and another must try!
Hi, Thanks for the recipe which was quite delicious! I made it exactly as per your directions. Only critique I can give it was that it didn’t make enough for the amount of time that went into making it. (But I’m not a fast cook) Do you think it would be ok to double the recipe?
Could you use cream cheese instead of coconut cream?
I used the leftover egg whites and made a meringue for the top… So divine
Doesn’t indicate whether the coconut oil should be melted or just blended in as is thank you
crust recipe? Thanks, looks so YUM!
Eeek! I just updated the software that makes the recipes printable and it deleted some. Adding it back in now. Sorry about that and thanks for letting me know!
Several of us on Facebook are asking for a recipe for the crust – could you please provide? Thanks!
Eeek! I just updated the software that makes the recipes printable and it deleted some. Adding it back in now. Sorry about that and thanks for letting me know!