Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
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This is one of my favorite fall recipes (a little late to come to the blog, unfortunately). To me, there’s really no dessert better than a cheesecake and combined with pumpkin, you really can’t go wrong. I’ve made this recipe (with modifications, of course, because I just have to modify everything) for the last few years and it’s always a hit. Often (and as I did here) I make this into bars because it’s easier for sharing/transporting and a little less fuss, in general. I leave the filling amount the same but increase the crust to fit a 9×13 pan. And the gingersnap-pecan crust? Well, that’s the best part (at least for me). I add a little more spice than the original recipe calls for, which I think makes the pumpkin stand out a bit more. This cheesecake is not overly sweet, which is also nice. So there you have it–a dessert that’s easy to make and goes over well every time.
Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
2.25 cups crushed gingersnap cookies
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 (heaping) tsp. ground cloves
Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9×13 baking pan. In a large bowl or in your food processor (which is what I use, since I already used it to crush the gingersnaps), combine the gingersnaps, pecans, and butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl or in your stand mixer bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth. Mix in the eggs one at a time, blending after each addition. Set aside one cup of the mixture. To the remaining mixture, mix in the 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Spread the pumpkin batter into the crust. Drop the remaining plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is just set (the middle will still jiggle a little bit). Cool the bars in the pan and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
Adapted from allrecipes.com
They are beautiful! I love pumpkin desserts. Can’t wait to try them.
Could those marbled swirls be any more perfect? Gorgeous!
That is one awesome dessert, Elly. You are a pro at marbling!!!!
This looks delicious, I love that it has a gingersnap crust!
Oooh! I love this…especially the spicy gingersnap crust!
I love pumpkin cheesecake so I would definitel LOVE these bars!!!
Wow, nice cheesecake bars…love the way you marble it…nice nice presentation 🙂
It’s still fall and it’s never too late for pumpkin :-p It looks amazing!
Those pumpkin cheesecake bars look so good!
These look delicious! I still have yet to make a great cheesecake so I love making them into bars instead.
what size can of pumpkin did you use for this?
I just used a cup of pumpkin puree. It doesn’t really matter what size can you get, it just depends if you want more or less leftover puree since a smaller can has about 1.75 cups.
I always dig seeing these swirls. I know it’s easy but it looks so “perty”.
I have all the ingredients except gingersnaps..would it still be good with a graham cracker crust? Because I do have cinnamon graham crackers in the cupboard.
Hi Brooke, it would definitely work with a graham cracker crust, just taste a little different. You can always add a little ground ginger to it if you want some of the flavor.
Going to make these right now, thanks!