{It is finally Pumpkin season again!}
I don't know what it is about PUMPKIN, but everyone LOVES it, am I right?
So, why not please your pumpkin peeps with these easy to make pumpkin cheesecake bars?
They are sure to fall in love!
I mean it is PUMPKIN and CHEESECAKE, the best of BOTH worlds in my book!
With the leaves changing color, cooler air, yummy hot apple cider and getting those flannel sheets back out to keep you cozy at night...what's not better than having the house filled with the fragrance of Pumpkin? And better yet...it is not coming from that delicious candle that you can't eat...
Could there possibly be a better way to WELCOME fall?
The bars can be made crust-less if you want!
Pumpkin Cheesecake Dream Bars
- 12 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 additional tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice or additional cinnamon
- 1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper and your crust of choice unless you’d prefer crust-less bars. Set aside.
- Bring your cream cheese to room temperature or gently warm until easily stir-able.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. If you have an extra baking pan of any size to spare, fill it halfway with water and place on the lower rack of your oven. (This step can be skipped; it just helps prevent cracking.)
- Blend together all ingredients until just blended—don’t over blend, which would introduce air into the bars and cause cracking later on.
- Pour the batter into the first prepared 8×8 pan, smooth out evenly, and place on the middle rack of your oven.
- Bake 25 minutes, then leave the oven door closed but turn off the oven and let the bars sit in the turned-off oven for another 5 minutes.
- Take out the still-under baked bars and let them sit at room temperature for an hour. (Don’t skip this, as putting them straight from the oven to the fridge would cause—you guessed it!—cracking.)
- Then refrigerate at least 4 hours, during which time they will firm up quite a bit. Slice into bars, and store leftovers in the fridge or even in the freezer if you want to thaw them another day.
