Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie Bars
These were a happy accident, Enjoy!
Cream Cheese
Pumpkin Pie bars
The Crust
2 cups Flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¾ cup melted butter
The Pumpkin
Filling
1 29 oz. can of pure
pumpkin or 3 ½ cups fresh roasted pumpkin flesh without the skin
1 ¼ cup dark brown
sugar
1 tbsp. pure vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk
3 eggs
1/2 cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie
spice
Cream Cheese
Swirl
1 8 oz. package of
cream cheese at room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
This recipe makes
one rectangle 9’13 pan of perfect pumpkin pie bars!
Pre-heat your oven
to 350. I use two mixing bowls for this
recipe. In your first mixing bowl
prepare the crust. Whisk all the dry ingredients together. Pour your melted butter
into the flour mixture, it will look crumbly. Press your crust into a 9’13 pan
and bake partially for 12 minutes until slightly set. You’re not looking for the crust to be
completely cooked only small patches beginning to get a golden color.
While the crust is
baking mix together all the ingredients for the pumpkin filling with either a
hand mixer or wire whisk. Set aside.
In another smaller
bowl microwave the room temperature cream cheese for 10-30 seconds until it’s
nice and melted. Add your powdered sugar
to the cheese and mix together until the lumps have disappeared and it’s smooth
and creamy.
When your crust has
finished partially baking, pour the pumpkin into the center. Quickly spread the
pumpkin all over the crust evenly, it’s perfectly fine if some of the crust
moves under the weight of the pumpkin, it creates and tasty thicker edge.
Spoon the cream
cheese evenly over the pumpkin; I tend to get about 12 tablespoon dollops all
over the bars. Make sure to scrape every
last bit of cream cheese onto the bars.
Using your spoon, carefully drag through the cream cheese dollops and pumpkin
to create beautiful swirls. Do not over
swirl, even though it is the best partJ
Return to the oven
for 20-30 minutes. You want to pull it out
of the oven just before the center is completely set. A small about of wobble
is fine because your bars will continue to set as they cool. Slice into either 12 large bars or 24 average
sized bars. Try not to inhale the pan…
