Grain-free chocolate chip Paleo Pumpkin Blondies made with almond flour and maple sugar (or coconut sugar) for a fall-inspired dessert recipe. These delicious healthy blondies are blasted with pumpkin spice flavor and have the most amazing texture!
Ready or not, the first pumpkin treat of the season is coming in HOT!
The combination of pureed pumpkin, pumpkin spice, and gooey chocolate in these Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Blondies brings a magnificent fall explosion of flavors to really light up your life!
Made with almond flour and sweetened with maple sugar or coconut sugar, these paleo cookie bars are everything I look for in a pumpkin dessert.
They’re warmly spiced, have perfect texture, and contain just the right amount of everything so that the true colors of all of the flavors show through.
The texture of these paleo pumpkin blondies is remarkably similar to regular blondies. Chewy, gooey, soft and caramel-like inside with the perfect crispy outside.
Let’s chat about the simple ingredients needed to make these grain-free chocolate chip pumpkin blondies!
Ingredients for Paleo Pumpkin Blondies:
Almond Flour: The base of the pumpkin blondies is almond flour, which creates a magically light yet simultaneously somehow dense cookie bar with the absolute best texture.
If you’ve made my Almond Flour Brownies or my Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts, you’re already familiar with this phenomenon.
Maple Sugar (or Coconut Sugar): To sweeten these delicious pumpkin cookie bars but keep them refined sugar-free, we use maple sugar or coconut sugar.
I have a slight preference toward maple sugar because its consistency closely resembles that of regular cane sugar, which makes it easy to incorporate into baked goods.
Plus, it doesn’t add a dark brown tint to a treat the way coconut sugar does.
Coconut sugar is a lower glycemic sweetener, making it ideal for those who love natural sugars that don’t create the same blood sugar spike as cane sugar.
For a low-carb keto version of this recipe, use your favorite sugar-free granulated sweetener.
If you aren’t concerned with the type of sweetener, you can use regular granulated cane sugar or brown sugar.
Egg: One egg contributes to the chewy texture of the blondies, helps them rise, and also keeps them held together nicely.
Butter, Ghee, or Coconut Oil: The fat portion of these pumpkin blondies. Use melted butter, ghee, or coconut oil, depending on your preference. I like sticking with butter or ghee because it brings that iconic cookie flavor to the treat.
Pureed Pumpkin: All we need is a small amount of pumpkin puree to make pumpkin blondies. I use canned pumpkin puree (not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling), but fresh works too.
You can save the rest of the pumpkin puree from the can for more delicious pumpkin treats. You’ll find plenty on this site!
Pumpkin Pie Spice: Here’s what really makes a pumpkin dessert recipe pop. Pumpkin pie spice brings all those warm, spicy flavors, which are iconic to any pumpkin dessert.
Without it, your treat tastes like a normal dessert but with it, the dessert tastes like all the fall colors are flying around your mouth in symphonic synchronicity.
Vanilla Extract: A touch of vanilla extract brings depth of flavor to the cookie bars. If you don’t have any on hand, you can skip it.
Baking Soda: A little baking soda is the leavening agent to help give rise to the bars and ensure they bake evenly. It is also what is responsible for that amazing crispy edge we get on the outside.
Sea Salt: Salt is a game-changing ingredient in that it brings out all of the individual flavors so that you can detect each one, but also brings all of the flavors together so you feel like you’re enjoying a cohesive colorful experience.
If you love salty sweet treats, sprinkle the pumpkin blondies with flaky sea salt when they come out of the oven.
Chocolate Chips: Big deal alert! Chocolate chips contribute to the texture, gooiness, richness, flavor, and sweetness.
Pick your favorite chips! Semisweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, and sugar-free chocolate chips all work. You can even go with white chocolate chips if you like them.
Now that we have all of the ingredients under control, let’s bake this beauty!
How to Make Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Blondies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 8” x 8” baking pan with parchment paper.
Add all of the ingredients for the cookie bars except for the chocolate chips to a mixing bowl and mix well until a very thick, sticky dough forms.
Stir in the chocolate chips until well distributed throughout the dough.
Transfer the pumpkin blondie dough to the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. If desired, top with more chocolate chips.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden-brown around the edges but the center is still slightly soft when gently poked.
I bake mine for 20 minutes then turn the oven off then leave the cookie bars in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Remove the cookie bars from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes.
Transfer the pumpkin blondies to a cutting board. Cut them into squares, and enjoy!
Store any leftover blondies in a zip lock bag on the counter for up to 4 days.
You can also store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days or in a zip lock bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Love pumpkin dessert recipes like me? Try my Healthy Pumpkin Pie, Paleo Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars, and my Paleo Pumpkin Swirl Brownies.
If you love grain-free desserts, also try out these healthy desserts!
More Grain-Free Dessert Recipes:
- Paleo Apple Pie Bars
- 3-Ingredient Nutty Banana Cookies
- Paleo Apple Coffee Cake
- Coconut Flour Brownies
- Strawberry Crumb Cake
Enjoy these sultry pumpkin spice blondies to satisfy that chewy gooey fixation!
Grain-Free Pumpkin Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- ¼ cup coconut oil or butter melted and cooled
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract optional
- 1 2/3 cups almond flour/meal
- 1/3 cup maple sugar or coconut sugar*
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice**
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 8” x 8” square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Add the melted butter (or coconut oil) pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl and mix well until completely combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl (almond flour, maple sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and sea salt) and stir well until a thick dough forms.
- Stir in the chocolate chips until well distributed throughout the dough.
- Transfer the blondie dough to the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. If desired, top with more chocolate chips.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden-brown and the center is still somewhat soft.
- Remove the cookie bars from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes. Transfer the pumpkin blondies to a cutting board. Cut them into squares, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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The recipe only shows baking soda but then the instructions say to add baking soda and baking powder. Can you please clarify?
Hi Alison! My apologies for the confusion, and thank you for catching that! There should only be baking soda in the recipe, no baking powder – it was a typo to add baking powder in the instructions. 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo
Will a flax egg be ok?
Hi Sydney! I haven’t tested the recipe using flax egg yet, so I’m not sure how it will turn out but based on prior experience in similar recipes, the bars may turn out pretty dense and seem somewhat raw. If you’re alright with that, I would say give it a try! xo 🙂
Can you make them with monkfruit instead of maple/coconut sugar?
Hi Noreen! Absolutely! You can use 1/3 cup of any granulated sweetener 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo