October and November equal pumpkin-fest! Time to enjoy all the wonderful, flavorful items you can make with pumpkin. I stock up for the year on canned pumpkin because I love it in pies, cakes, pancakes and cookies! Our local Smith’s Food (Kroger) sells pumpkin chocolate chip cookies year round, but they aren’t low carb. Must work on a recipe for those in the future. But for now, here’s a great adaptation of a favorite recipe to the LC version.
This is a low carb, super-charged version of the Libby’s recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. I added 1/3 cup vanilla why protein powder to give it a little extra texture and energy, but you can use almond flour in place of the protein powder if you prefer.
1/3 cup low carb flour (CarbQuick, LC Foods or Bob’s Red Mill)
1/3 cup Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
1/3 cup Almond Flour
1/3 cup Brown Sugar Substitute (or Splenda/brown sugar mix)
5 tablespoons Butter, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped Pecans or Walnuts
1 pkg (8 oz) soft Cream Cheese
3/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 cup Libbys solid pack Pumpkin
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Seasoning
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Bottom cookie crust:
Combine flour and brown sugar in med. bowl Cut in butter to make a crumb mixture. Stir in nuts. Set aside 1/2 cup mixture for topping. Press remaining mix into bottom of 8x8x1-1/2″ baking pan. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 15 minutes. Cool slightly.
Cheesecake topping:
Combine cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla in large. mixer bowl. Blend till smooth. Pour over baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved topping. Bake an additional 30-35 min.
Cool before cutting into bars.
Makes 32 1×2″ bars.
I prefer to cut mine into 36 squares. That’s six cuts each direction – cut in the middle, then cut each half into thirds, turn the dish and repeat.
Splenda Version Nutrition: Calories 68 Net Carbs: 1.1g Fiber: .8 g
Liquid sucralose and sugar alcohol version: Net Carbs: .7 g
Related Pumpkin Recipe Posts:
Mah-valous LC Pumpkin Pancakes
Rene’s LC Pumpkin Cheesecake