Recipe mashup: Pumpkin Pecan Bars

It's that time of year when leaves start to show their brilliant colors and all of your Facebook friends start posting about pumpkin lattes.  Me?  I've been craving a yummy pumpkin pie!  I made our 10-year-old one for his birthday.  I hear it was delicious, but since it contained condensed milk, I couldn't indulge.  I'm toying with the idea of coming up with a recipe of my own using homemade sweetened condensed coconut milk but I haven't gotten around to testing it out yet.

But this past weekend, I just couldn't wait anymore.  I NEEDED something pumpkin!  So I browsed my Pins and found two recipes that I'd saved that sounded just like what I was craving:

• Pumpkin Chai Bars with Raw Pecan Crust (from The Spunky Coconut)
• "Paleo-fied" Pumpkin Pie Bars (from Clean Eats in the Zoo)

Sadly, though, I lacked agar for the first recipe, and fell way short on almond flour for the second.  What is a girl to do?

Take it easy!  I got just what you need for that pumpkin craving!

You mashup those recipes!  That's what ya do!
I took the crust from the first recipe, messed around with it a little, and modified the pumpkin custard from the second recipe, and voila!  Pumpkin magic.  I can't wait to make it again!

In fact, I was so pleased with the results, I had to stop myself from eating the rest
so I could have a picture to share!  (Not pumpkin bars to share, mind you.  Hands off!
That last piece is mine!)

Pumpkin Pecan Bars

Crust:
1 6oz. bag whole pecans
1/2 cup almond flour
5 soft pitted dates (soaked for 15 minutes in warm water)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (ok, I didn't use this the first time, but I will when I make it again.)
dash salt

Filling:
1 15oz. can of pureed pumpkin (not pie filling, just plain pumpkin)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 unsweetened canned coconut milk (I find that the boxed kind doesn't work well for baking things like this)
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
dash salt


Preheat oven to 325.  Add all crust ingredients to the bowl of your food processor and give it a whirl until mixture is an even crumble.  Dump into an 8x8 (glass recommended) baking dish and press into a crust-like form.  (I didn't press mine up the sides, but if you wanted a thinner crust, you could.)
Mix filling ingredients in a large bowl and pour over crust.  Bake 45 minutes until the filling looks just about set in the center and crust is browning on the bottom. Remove from oven and let cool 30 minutes on a baking rack.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.  Serve chilled.

Kinda makes me wish I'd chilled and whipped the rest of that can of coconut milk!  Yum!