I kind of loved this weekend. I slept a lot. I worked out. I hung out with friends. I ate most of my meals at home, meaning I saved money. I hung out on my new couch, which is the greatest thing in the entire world. I watched 3 Twilight movies on tv. Those seriously never get old. And I drank a couple glasses of wine. That was the only downer. Makes no sense, huh? Wine should mean great things, but not for me. The less I drink, the more I feel like balls when I do. Not just with wine, but with any alcohol. I seriously swell up like a balloon. Mostly in my feet, but also everywhere else. What’s up with that? I know for a fact that doesn’t happen to everyone. I remember in my college days when I would wake up skinnier from being more dehydrated. Now I’m just a little water balloon. Wtfuuuuu?
Ok, another serious question. Why do people enjoy watching scary movies? I probably watch one scary movie a year. Maybe. And I did last night. I don’t know why I did it, but when ’30 Days of Night’ was on tv, I couldn’t help myself. Maybe because it was just a vampire kind of night, or day (that’s besides the point), but I watched it. And instantly became terrified. Not just of the vampires eating my face off, but of living in Alaska when there is a month with absolutely no sun. Nothing is more terrifying than snow and no sun. That’s why I don’t live on the east coast. Jk Jk Jk, east coast humans. I can’t remember if my nightmares were from my fear of excess snow or vampires. I just don’t know. But I woke up pitting out a couple times last night. I do know that.
It didn’t even have a happy ending. The worst.
Remember how much of a heart throb Josh Hartnett used to be? He was so dreamy. Come back, Josh. Come back.
Wait, I need to go back to one point I mentioned. My new couch. Seriously, this couch is the most comfortable couch of all time. I need to take an instagram picture of it soon. Ya know, because that’s totally what people who follow food instagram pages are looking for. The couch has this giant ottoman that you can push up to the couch and make a bed. Pretty amazing. I kind of don’t want to sleep in my bed anymore.
I really want a churro.
PS- don’t freak out about the ingredient list below. I swear it’s really not that bad. Just man up, man dude bro.
Blueberry Pumpkin Muffin Breakfast Bars
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Ingredients
For the muffin crust
- ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 eggs, whisked
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon Primal Palate pumpkin pie spice (or ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves, ⅛ teaspoon powdered ginger)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
For the toppings
- 2 cups of fresh blueberries (frozen blueberries work, just thaw first)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons coconut cream concentrate or homemade coconut butter
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- zest of 1/2 a lemon
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
For the crumble
- 1/2 cup mixed nuts, chopped (I used cashews, pecans, and walnuts)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon honey
- sprinkle of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix together wet ingredients in a bowl: pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, whisk together coconut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, powdered ginger, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well.
- Grease an 8×8 glass baking dish then cut a piece of parchment paper down so it can fit into the baking dish, leaving two sides out of the baking dish. This way you can pick the bars out of the dish without breaking them apart.
- Pour the muffin batter into the parchment lined baking sheet and spread out evenly.
- Place in oven and baking for 30-35 minutes until cooked through.
- While the crust bakes, place a small saucepan over medium heat and add blueberries.
- Add honey, coconut cream concentrate, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well.
- Once the blueberries begin to burst, remove from heat and add coconut flour. Mix until completely combined. Let sit for about 5 minutes to thicken up.
- When the crust is done cooking, pour the blueberry mixture on top.
- In a bowl, add nuts, coconut, sesame seeds, honey, cinnamon and salt and mix together and mix.
- Add clumps of the nuts to the top of the blueberry mixture.
- Add to oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan, then place on a cool rack to cool for 5 more minutes before cutting into 6-8 squares.
- Store in fridge.
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You May Also Like:
Granola Krunch Chocolate Bark (nut free)
Protein Banana Bread Breakfast Bars
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These look Ohhhmazing! Perfect time of the year for blueberry anything =)
Hi Juli, Love, Love your blog! If I didn’t I’d skip the parts you rant or talk about yourself and go straight to the recipes. They taste so good. When reading what you share, it feels like we’re in your kitchen, chatting like a couple of old friends over baked goods and coffee.
So I’m not intimidated by all the ingredients, just Wonder how you managed to whip up all this in 10 min lol! Will try this. The best part is bringing the goodies to the office and sharing everything I make. There’s never any leftovers. I rate that a 4 and if they ask for 2nd’s I rate it a 5! Thx for the recipes.
Have a great day Juli 🙂
haha I guess I just took into consideration how long it took to prepare the muffin layer, but i changed that so now the prep time is around 20 minutes. sorry about that!!
Congrats Juli! This was a hit with my people 🙂
Delicious as is. Incidently, it inspired me to want to try making a muffin version of this. Maybe just add the crumble + blueberries in the mix instead of on top. Will do that when I decide to man…um woman up again.
Super random question, and it’s okay if you don’t want to answer it but how did you get out of the last few months of your lease?!
I’m looking to do the same thing but not sure how to go about it. Any advice would be great.
Again, pretty personal question, so I understand if you can’t help me out here! 🙂
haha I didn’t!! I’m paying 2 rents for 3 months lol. bummer but totally worth it in my opinion
I had to almost do this once before, but for 6 months. It’s in the lease contract. In talking to my landlord, he said the only way I could get out of it was to find a renter and hire someone to clean the apartment before they moved in. So, maybe your landlord will work with you.
Stacy
My daughter had to do the same thing after she kicked out her cheating boyfriend. She contacted the property manager and they agreed to place the rental on the market and she would pay until it was rented. It was rented in two weeks cuz it was super clean and she made sure it smelled like cookies anytime someone came to look at it!
You ladies are awesome. Thanks for all the replies! Unfortunately, I still have 6 months (and a total bummer of a roommate), so 2 rents aren’t an option at this point. Hopefully my roommate knows someone who will want to take over my half of the rent or something can be worked out with the apartment complex. Wish me luck!
Mary, LOVE that she made sure it smelled like cookies. I would totally rent an apartment based off that. Best smell ever.
Not sure what I did wrong but my pumpkin crust turned completely blue after baking it with the blueberries on top. Very, very moist almost like sponge cake (a blue sponge cake in this case). Could it be because I used the frozen blueberries? Or maybe need to cook the crust longer to crisp it up more? It still tasted delish but didn’t look nearly as appetizing as yours!
did you thaw the blueberries prior to cooking them down? the crust is definitely not crispy, it’s a muffin crust
Yes, I did thaw them. I was just wondering if anyone else who used frozen blueberries had the same problem. If so, I will just use fresh ones next time. Otherwise, I am stumped to why that happened.
I used frozen blueberries (thawed first) and did not have this problem.. (They were not packed in a lot of water crystals; had clearly dried before freezing.)
One of my more ambitious friends picked 150 pounds of Oregon blueberries last summer and gave me an over-stuffed gallon bag of them last weekend, so this recipe came along at the perfect time. These bars are delicious! Props to you, Juli, for keeping it fabulous. I’ve been paleo two years now and fundamentally grateful for your amusing blog and excellent recipes.
I’ll try it with frozen and report back! This looks so delicious.
Great! Thanks!
I am always looking for new, paleo friendly breakfasts and this looks wonderful! Running out for more blueberries now!!
I’m so glad I’m not the only (relatively) grown woman who watched the Twilight movies on TV last weekend… I just can’t stop once I’ve started!
If I don’t have coconut cream concentrate or homemade coconut butter, what can I use? I have coconut oil, ghee, and regular butter in the house.
im not really sure. you could try coconut oil but i haven’t tried it
These weren’t as much of a pain in the a*s to make as I anticipated!
I did experience the same thing as someone else above with a certain spongey texture … but I also made some substitutions which probably contributed to that: I only had frozen blackberries, so I used those (I did de-frost them and tried to soak out as much of the water as I could); I didn’t use the jarred coconut cream concentrate … I scraped the top off of a refrigerated can of full fat coconut milk; and I used baked sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin.
To me, this came out like a coffee cake (obviously not in taste but in shape, size, texture), but a little lighter/less dense. I think the phrase “breakfast bars” sets up an expectation for something a bit denser. But I do like these – have been eating pieces topped with coconut whipped cream and a nutella cream pudding spread thingy that I made up. Yum!
These are delicious! I am fairly new to paleo. I have made a few baked goods, and these are my favorite to date.
I look forward to trying with other berries! Thanks for the great recipe!