CREAM CHEESE PUMPKIN BARS WITH CARAMEL TOPPING

CREAM CHEESE PUMPKIN BARS WITH CARAMEL TOPPING

These bars did not last very long in our house! Very yummy! Great as a Thanksgiving treat or anytime really, as long as you like pumpkin desserts!  The Caramel Topping is an easy blender recipe to make things easy peasy.  This is a quick and easy recipe once you have the ingredients on hand. 

INGREDIENTS:  

Crust:

1 cup Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2 (250 mL)

  OR 14 tbsp almond flour (210 mL)

  and 1 tbsp coconut flour , OR oat fiber (15 mL)

1 tsp cornstarch, optional (See Helpful Hints below) (5 mL)

¹/₄  tsp ground ginger, optional (1 mL)

6 tbsp butter, melted (90 mL)

Liquid sweetener (sucralose or stevia) to equal ¹/₄  cup sugar (60 mL)

Filling:

4 oz regular cream cheese (125 g)

¹/₄  cup canned pumpkin (60 mL)

Liquid sweetener (sucralose or stevia) to equal ¹/₄  cup sugar (60 mL)

2 tbsp unsalted butter (30 mL)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract (5 mL)

Caramel Topping:

¹/₄  cup boiling water (60 mL)

Liquid sweetener (sucralose or stevia) to equal ¹/₂  cup sugar (125 mL)

¹/₄  cup unsalted butter (60 mL)

1 cup whole milk powder, OR coconut milk powder, OR (250 mL)
  heavy cream powder (available at Wal-Mart or Amazon)

¹/₄  cup powdered sweetener, OR (60 mL)

  6 coffee sweetener packets

¹/₂  tsp molasses (2 mL)

¹/₄  tsp pure vanilla extract (1 mL)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).  Grease an 8-inch (20 cm) baking pan. 

Crust:  In medium bowl, combine Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2 (OR alternative), cornstarch and ginger (if using the latter two ingredients).  In small bowl, combine melted butter and liquid sweetener.  Add to dry ingredients; mix well.  Press crust ingredients into bottom of prepared pan.  Bake 10 minutes.

Filling:  In food processor or in bowl with mixer, process cream cheese, pumpkin, liquid sweetener, butter, egg and vanilla extract until smooth.  Pour over baked crust.  Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until the center is set.

Caramel Topping:  In food processor or blender, combine boiling water, liquid sweetener, butter, whole milk powder, powdered sweetener, OR coffee sweetener, molasses and vanilla extract.  Blend until very smooth. 

Pour Caramel Topping over cooled cheesecake layer and smooth it out evenly.  Refrigerate.

Helpful Hints: 1 tsp cornstarch has 2 grams of carbohydrate.  Over 25 servings, that equals 0.04 g carbs; basically negligible.  I have not made the caramel topping with coconut milk powder.  I imagine it would work and definitely going half and half with whole milk powder should work.  This will cut down on carbs a bit.  Heavy Cream powder will be much lower in carbs yet.

Yield:  25 servings

1 serving

114.7 calories

2.9 g protein

10 g fat

0 g fiber

3.5 g net carbs

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CHOCOLATE FUDGE CRUMBLE BARS

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