Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9X13 baking pan with parchment paper (or grease it, I don't care what you do. You never call me anymore.).
In a large bowl, combine the following dry ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1+1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder (note: I put this in to add protein. The recipe will work just fine without it, but you will want to increase the whole wheat flour to around 1 + 3/4 - 2 cups, or maybe put in about 1/2 cup all-purpose flour. It's a journey.)
Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients until they are completely blended and there are no lumps. Using a sifter is helpful. Once the dry ingredients are ready, add:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup Splenda with Fiber (Note: I put this in to make this bar more fiber-rich. Plain Splenda or white sugar works fine, or you can do 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup white.)
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. (Or a couple of teaspoons pumpkin pie spice)
Blend the sugars and spices into the dry ingredients. Once the mixture is even and fine, add
1 enormous (29 oz) can pumpkin (or two small cans, or two cups pumpkin puree) (Note: do not use pumpkin pie filling, get the 100% pure pumpkin puree)
2 eggs (note: to make this recipe fat-free, use 1/3 cup applesauce, but I need the extra protein and fat from the eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash orange extract (optional, but I like the little citrus note there. It will totally overpower if too much is used, though)
Mix everything up until it is smooth. Add a bag of white chocolate chips and, if you like, a bag of craisins or a cup of raisins. Pour mixture (which will be very thick) into your lined pan and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour. Start testing it; when the toothpick comes out cleanly it is done.
Allow it to cool and then slice into very small bars. I recommend at least 36 servings per pan. Here's what they look like:
I suggest freezing half for later consumption; a little goes a long, long way.
Enjoy!
