Come fall and winter, I’m all about a pumpkin dessert. Give me the pumpkin drinks, the pumpkin sweets, I want one of everything. Truly I think the thing I love the most are the spices that are associated with all things pumpkin. From the clove, the nutmeg and cinnamon, they’re some of my favorite warming spices and I can’t get enough.
I’ve been doing a LOT more baking lately and trying out new recipes and new things. I have never made blondies until this year, or cinnamon rolls, and even an apple pie. But I’ve done it all! And I’m pretty impressed with myself. So today I’m sharing one of those wins and it’s these pumpkin bars with a cream cheese swirl. Well it’s supposed to be a swirl but I have no patience and it’s more of a smear. Either way, delicious.
I’m a huge fan of cheesecake too, so this was a perfect combination without making a big heavy cheesecake. But these are a nice combination of a pumpkin bar that’s more of insanely moist and dense pumpkin bread and my favorite classic cheesecake.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Bars
I wish I could take credit for this recipe. Although seriously, how do food bloggers come up with all these ideas?! This recipe is from Sally’s Baking Addiction which is a favorite blog to reference when I want to bake something. Her recipe called for pepitas to top the bars with but if you know me, you know I hate nuts in anything.
And don’t miss the giveaway at the end of today’s post! I’m teaming up with a few blog friends to share our favorite holiday treats in a virtual cookie exchange. Plus, we’re giving away 5, $25 Target gift cards so you can try all these fun recipes! Just head to the next recipe over at Lolo Russel to check out her cinnamon shortbread and then you’ll visit the next recipe and so on until you’re back here!
Pumpkin Bar Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened and room temp
- 1 cup packed brown sugar (dark or light)
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tsps pumpkin pie spice – if you don’t have this I just do a mix of equal parts ground nutmeg, clove, ginger and allspice. I
- 3/4 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Swirl Ingredients
- 8 oz brick style cream cheese, room temp
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
METHOD
Step One
Preheat over to 350º. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper leaving an overhang (this makes it SO easy to pull out of the pan). You can also just spray with cooking spray or butter.
Step Two
In a large bowl with a hand mixer (or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), beat butter for 1 minute on medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat on medium/high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla on high. Then beat in the pumpkin. Make sure to scrape down the sides every so often.
Step Three
In another bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together. Flour, baking soda, spices and salt. While on low speed, slowly mix in your dry into the wet until just combined. Do not overmix.
Step Four
This is the part I screwed up so don’t do what I did and make sure to do this step properly for the best swirls. Spread 2/3 of the batter evenly into you 9×13 pan. Set aside the rest of the batter into a separate bowl if using your stand mixer. If using a handheld mixer, grab a fresh bowl for step five.
Step Five
Make the cheesecake swirl in a medium bowl. This is why I screwed up because I wanted to just use my mixer again and poured everything into the pan so I would have a clean bowl. So in a FRESH bowl, beat the cream cheese for one minute until smooth and creamy. Then add your sugar, egg and vanilla. Beat on high until smooth.
Step Six
Make the swirl! Now that you have 1/3 of the pumpkin batter and your cheesecake mixture, you’ll just dollop spoonfuls on top of your pumpkin batter layer in your pan. The pumpkin batter will be THICK so it’s a little tough to do this if the spoonfuls are big. With a knife, gently swirl it together.
Step Seven
Bake the bars for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Allow bars to cool completely at room temp.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Bars
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 3/4 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Swirl
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º and adjust ove rack to the lower third position. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment, or grease it.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer (or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), beat butter for 1 minute on medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat on medium/high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla on high. Then beat in the pumpkin. Make sure to scrape down the sides every so often.
- In another bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together. Flour, baking soda, spices and salt. While on low speed, slowly mix in your dry into the wet until just combined. Do not overmix.
- This is the part I screwed up so don’t do what I did and make sure to do this step properly for the best swirls. Spread 2/3 of the batter evenly into you 9×13 pan. Set aside the rest of the batter into a separate bowl if using your stand mixer. If using a hand held mixer, grab a fresh bowl for step five.
- Make the cheesecake swirl in a medium bowl. This is why I screwed up because I wanted to just use my mixer again and poured everything into the pan so I would have a clean bowl. So in a FRESH bowl, beat the cream cheese for one minute until smooth and creamy. Then add your sugar, egg and vanilla. Beat on high until smooth.
- Make the swirl! Now that you have 1/3 of the pumpkin batter and your cheesecake mixture, you’ll just dollop spoonfuls on top of your pumpkin batter layer in your pan. The pumpkin batter will be THICK so it’s a little tough to do this if the spoonfuls are big. With a knife, gently swirl it together.
- Bake the bars for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Allow bars to cool completely at room temp before cutting. This is also easier to do if they chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
