There’s a layer of Pumpkin Cake and a layer of Cheesecake in this treat. Together they make awesome Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, the likes of which take hardly any effort to make!
This recipe is the result of me taking a moment to play with my Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffin recipe. Indeed, you can often find me playing with recipes at my house. Why play with toys when there are recipes lying around, am I right? Toy box. Recipe box. It’s all the same to me.
The beauty of playing with recipes is that one can easily turn one treat into a new treat, simply by tweaking a few ingredients and measurements. That is how the muffins turned into these Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars.
As many of my recipes are, this one is delicious enough for dessert and healthy enough for breakfast. :)
Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
- 2 cups whole grain flour
- ½ cup brown sugar or sucanat
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
- 2 eggs
- 15-ounces pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- Cream Cheese Marble Filling:
- 16-ounces softened cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 3 Tablespoons real maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sucanat, salt, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Mix in egg, pumpkin puree, and oil until well combined.
- Pour batter into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Set aside.
- Blend Cream Cheese Filling ingredients in a blender or with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Drizzle mixture over the unbaked pumpkin cake.
- Use a butter knife to spread the filling over the cake batter.
- Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow bars to cool completely, then chill for at least two hours before cutting into bars and serving.
*Find the recipe for our Pumpkin Spice mix here. Or substitute 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg in this recipe.
Do you like to play with recipes?
Yummmmmm! Hope to make these this weekend–thanks so much!!
And I, too, often tweak recipes according to my moods , cravings, and/or what we have on hand. ?
Are you sure you mean a whole teaspoon of ground cloves, Laura? Seems like a lot. Cloves are very strong!
Less will be just fine if that’s what you prefer! :)
You know what I love about your recipes… you post minimal pictures and then get us the recipe. I don’t have to scroll through 30 pictures to get to the recipe. Sometimes I give up before I get to the bottom of those blogs to even print the recipe off. Yours are simple and straight forward and use wholesome ingredients. Thank you!!!
I don’t have maple syrup. Can I substitute honey, and it be the same amount?