• 1. Combine dry ingredients above (flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg) in a large bowl.
• 2. In a medium bowl combine
• • pumpkin (either a 16 ounce can of pumpkin puree or instructions below for making fresh pumpkin puree - always my preference if possible);
• • cherries
• • dates
• • honey
• • maple syrup (8 ounces if canned pumpkin OR  6 ounces if homemade pumpkin puree)
• • flax or chia "eggs,"
• • and vanilla
• 3. Slowly mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
• 4. Pour mixture into 8 x 11 glass baking dish and bake 45-50 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven (until toothpick comes out clean when inserted).
• 5. Cool, cut into bars, and serve warm or cold.

To make flax or chia "eggs"

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs ground flax or chia seeds *
• * Ground flax or ground chia can be purchased or can be made from whole seeds at home.  To make ground seeds at home, use a clean coffee or spice grinder which has been stored in the freezer.  Grind seeds until transformed into a fine powder.  My preference is golden flax seed.  Store ground seeds in the freezer.  Whole seeds can be stored in either the refrigerator or the freezer.
• 6 Tbs water

Directions

• 1. Mix 2 Tbs of ground flax seeds or ground chia seeds into 6 Tbs of water.
• 2. Refrigerate mixture for a minimum of 15 minutes before using.

OPTIONAL

Homemade pumpkin puree

Ingredients

• Whole pumpkin, cut in half
• Olive oil

Directions

• 1. Scoop out seeds from each half pumpkin (ice cream scoop works well).
• 2. Rub olive oil onto cut edge of each pumpkin half and place cut edge down on a baking sheet.
• 3. Bake at 350° for 45 to 60 minutes, until fork stuck into outside can easily penetrate the skin.  Remove pumpkin from oven and let cool.
• 4. When cool, scoop out the pumpkin from the skin.  Purée cooled pumpkin in a food processor or a blender.