Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars are moist pumpkin bars with swirls of cream cheese frosting throughout.  This dessert will be on your fall treat recipe list every year.

PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE BARS

If you follow me on Instagram you know that we had our annual Halloween Bunko and of course I needed a costume for the night. I wasn’t very committed to going all out on a costume this year.

Sometimes I’m in the mood to get dressed up and sometimes I’m happy to put on some black ears and call myself a cat. This was a cat kind of year.

I strolled into Party City with two kids trying to get in and out as fast as I could. I glanced at all of the costumes on the wall and saw that most of them barely covered more than my swimsuit would.

The worker by the costumes asked if she could help me so I asked her if they had any costumes that actually covered your body. She thought for a couple of seconds and said, “Um…yeah, we have two. The pirate and the devil. Oh wait, and the nun.”

“Give me the devil,” I said. (I already own the pirate and the nun)

So I was a $12 devil for Halloween Bunko. Not exactly creative, but covered all my naughty parts.

Even though I’ve had a lot of pumpkin recipe fails this year, I haven’t given up on pumpkin recipes yet. This recipe is a sister recipe to the Pumpkin Cake that is also on this blog.

It tastes like a pumpkin bread generously swirled with a sweet cream cheese mixture. I had this in the oven in under ten minutes.

It’s one of those traditional recipes that you’ll want to make every year.You can add nuts if you like. It definitely adds a nice crunch if nuts are your thing.

OTHER PUMPKIN RECIPES:

• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
• Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Earthquake Cake
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Cake

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4.71 from 17 votes

Yield: 18 bars

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Prep Time:

10 mins

Cook Time:

30 mins

Total Time:

40 mins

These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars are moist pumpkin bars with swirls of cream cheese frosting throughout.

Ingredients

Filling:

• 1 (8 ounce package) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Batter:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see Note for substitution)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• optional 1/2 cup chopped pecan pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Spray a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
3. For the filling: With a hand mixer blend together softened cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
4. For the batter: Combine the pumpkin, sugar, egg and oil in medium mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
5. Stir in flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well to combine.
6. Pour batter into prepared baking dish, and spread to cover bottom of pan.
7. Add dollops of the cream cheese mixture over the batter. Cut through the batter with a knife to make a marbled effect w/ the cream cheese mixture in an up and down pattern. Repeat going the other way. When marbling make sure you don't go all the way to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans if desired.
8. Bake for 25 - 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool an cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

If you don't have Pumpkin Pie Spice you can make your own. The substitute for 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice in this recipe is: 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/8 teaspoon allspice.

Source: Just a Pinch

Author: Christy Denney

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pumpkin cream cheese bar recipe, pumpkin cream cheese bars