Pumpkin Spice Steel Cut Oat Bars with Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Glaze {Vegan}

These vegan Pumpkin Spice Steel Cut Oat Bars with Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Glaze will be your go-to fall favorite when you want something as nourishing as it is festive and delicious.

Most people I talk to are “summer people” and more than a little sad to see it come to an end. I have always been a autumn person, before pumpkin spice lattes were even a thing.

As a kid growing up in Buffalo, when the air started to turn crisp the leaves would begin showing their splendor in various shades of red and gold, and pumpkins would start popping up on front porches, later to be carved into jack-o-lanterns. We’d go apple picking as a family out in the country, and the fridge was always stocked with fresh, local apple cider. My mom would make things like pumpkin pie, molasses cookies, roast chicken, and pot roast, filling the house with the comforting smell of home. And any time there was talk of a storm, my sister and I would wait more than a little impatiently for our first snow day of the season, never quite knowing if we’d have a full week off or just a day (because in Buffalo you really just never know). It was magic, all of it.

I know I’m a little early with pumpkin spice, but since fall is officially here (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway), I wanted to share this recipe so you can enjoy it all season long. Once you make it, I think you’ll be as hooked as I am; I’ve already made these bars twice in the past two and a half weeks! I love that they’re full of clean, healthy ingredients, but taste like a legitimate treat. Because there’s nothing better than being able to feel like you’re indulging when you’re really nourishing your body, right?

With things like dates, walnuts, pumpkin, and oats, I would definitely consider these bars breakfast-friendly. I used Better Oats Classic Steel Cut Instant Oatmeal with Flax, which makes these bars hearty enough to stay with you all morning if you have them for breakfast. I like these particular oats because they’re quick-cooking (if you’re making a bowl of them, they're ready in just 2 and a half minutes), so they integrate really well into the batter for this recipe. (Plus these oats are a good source of ALA Omega-3!) And to keep these breakfast-worthy, I skipped the refined sugar here, instead using dates and just a touch of maple syrup for sweetness.

These bars are moist and dense with a slight chewiness, somewhere between snack cake meets cookie, but in bar form. They have the perfect amount of sweetness, just enough to satisfy a dessert craving without being cloying oversweet, and they’re full of pumpkin spice goodness. They hold their shape surprisingly well and have a bit of texture and nutty flavor thanks to the steel cut oats. If raisins (or even dried cranberries) in baked goods are your thing, go ahead and add a handful here, or you could go with a handful of walnuts stirred in at the end for crunch.

The cacao butter glaze on top is perfect; it’s basically a healthy version of pumpkin spice white chocolate and its flavor is unparalleled (not to mention its aroma!). Because this glaze is cacao butter-based, it stays solid (but not in a crunchy way) at room temperature; unlike coconut oil, it holds its shape and won’t get soupy because doesn’t melt at warm room temperature (76F). If you can’t find cacao butter, no worries because you could go with a regular powdered sugar glaze instead. To keep it fall-themed, I think my two-ingredient apple cider glaze recipe that I used on these doughnuts would be delicious.

What’s your favorite fall food or fall memory?