Cocoa Crust Pumpkin Pie Bars

I'm getting lots of great feed-back on the Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars, and I'd planned to make them this afternoon, but I was also craving something cocoa-y.  So this is a simple tweak of that recipe, and we are all eating even bigger pieces of it tonight! So, I think we like it even better!

Also, we are having  a contest on the Feeding Ger Sasser fan page on Facebook for the month of January, 2014.  I hope you'll join us there. Every time you post a photo of a Feeding Ger Sasser recipe, it's one entry. The prize (I'm starting small) is a 16 oz bag of organic black sesame seeds.

I started with the crust. I stirred up the following ingredients in a big bowl:
3 cups almond meal ( I use unblanched)
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup + 1 TBSP coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup honey  (if you use raw honey, like I do, you will need to warm it a bit so it's a liquid)1 TBSP + 1 tsp vanilla2 TBSP dark cocoa
I stirred this up with a wooden spoon and pressed it down in a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.
I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

                                             (You can see where my fingers pressed it out)

 I let it cool some while I mixed up the Pumpkin Pie part.

I rinsed the big bowl, and put it to use again for the top layer with the following ingredients:

2 cans organic pumpkin puree
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs
1/2 cup raw honey, warmed to a liquid
1 cup organic coconut milk from a can

I mixed all this up with a wooden spoon and then poured it onto the top of the crust layer.

I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes.  I let it sit for a good while on a wire rack, to cool set up some before I tried to slice and serve it, but not too long - we couldn't wait, AND it's so good while it's warm and wonderful.
Anytime a dessert can be GOOD for you and count as a vegetable.....you are fueling your life the right way.  So, My athletes are prepping for the Great Lakes Invitational next weekend. How about you?