A confession: I cheated with this recipe. It's one of the very few recipes on Happy Herbivore that uses added fat. It calls for a bit of peanut butter, but I'm also including a variation for my chocolate lovers that is "fat-free."
The idea for these treats came haphazardly. James left a comment on HH's Facebook page asking for a pumpkin version of HH's black bean brownies . Since I created a whole-wheat, fat-free pumpkin-brownie recipe last year, I decided to try my hand at pumpkin bars instead.
My first batch of bars came out beautifully but I wasn't completely sold on the taste. My friend Heather then suggested I add some of my low fat "peanut butter" (a recipe in my upcoming cookbook ) to help mask the bean taste.
Since my cookbook isn't out yet, I decided to use regular ol' peanut butter and success! The pumpkin bars are delicious!
A warning: make these pumpkin bars when you're alone unless you want to embarrass yourself as you lick the batter out of the bowl--it's so good...and addicting!