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Soft and cake-y pumpkin bars with cream cheese swirls are delicious with a side of ice cream! Top them with chocolate chips for extra flavor.
We know from our Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting that pumpkin + cream cheese is a wonderful combo. Pumpkin cream cheese bars have the cream cheese baked INTO the pumpkin, which is even better! Add this to your repertoire of pumpkin recipes—you won’t be sorry!
yummy fall flavors!
Are you sick of pumpkin yet? I’m just making sure that come Thanksgiving you have a ton of pumpkin recipes to choose from. 🙂
This recipe for pumpkin swirl bars is one that I found on Pinterest and made a few changes to. They’re pumpkin “bars”, but the consistency is somewhere in between Pumpkin Brownies and Pumpkin Cake. And they have the most DELICIOUS swirls of cream cheese throughout!
Pumpkin and cream cheese are a match made in heaven. Add a little bit of chocolate on top, and BOOM. You have the ultimate combination of flavors. You can leave the mini chocolate chips on or off—all done according to your preference. Our family definitely loves chocolate so we were sure to leave them on.
Tips for Making Them
PUMPKIN BATTER. Stir together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin puree, and oil, stir until combined. Pour and spread batter into an ungreased 15×10 pan.
CREAM CHEESE SWIRLS. With an electric mixer, cream your cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg and milk. Drizzle over your pumpkin layer. Gently use a knife to swirl the mixtures.
BAKE. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top, if desired. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. If you like, add more chips on the top after cake has cooled for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack for about two hours.
Variations + Storing Info
Ways to mix it up:
- You can make a gingersnap or graham cracker crust to go underneath your bars.
- You could also mix chocolate chips into your batter.
- To make the cream cheese layer more cheesecake-like, add vanilla extract
STORE this dish in the fridge because of the cream cheese. I would only keep the bars for a week at most. They are super moist, so they might begin to go mushy and gross after a while.
Yummy, yum!! You will definitely love these if you love Pumpkin… and cream cheese… and chocolate!! 😀
For more great Pumpkin recipes, be sure to check out:
- Butter Pumpkin Cake
- White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles
- Individual No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecakes
- Pumpkin Roll
- Mini Pumpkin Pies
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree
- 1 cup vegetable oil
Cream Cheese Layer
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin puree, and oil, and stir until combined. Pour and spread batter into an ungreased 15×10 pan.
- With an electric mixer, cream your cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg and milk. Drizzle over your pumpkin layer. Gently use a knife to swirl the mixtures. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
- Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes. Add more chips on the top if desired when cake has cooled for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack for about two hours.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Adapted from Kitchen Meets Girl.
Such a good one! Love pumpkin and when you add the cheesecake it’s divine!!
Can these be made in a 9×13
I haven’t tried it in a 9X13 but I think you could. You’ll just want to make sure not to fill the pan too full so it doesn’t overflow when it bakes. If it all does fit, you’ll probably need to adjust baking time as well since it’ll be a bit thicker. You’ll have to let us know how it turns out!
I almost scrolled right by because of the 2+ hour time, but thankfully that was all cooling. These are quick and easy to make and delicious.
Pumpkin time is a great thing to celebrate. We love the flavors and smells. So good!
These pumpkin cream cheese bars are so soft and moist! Love how delicious these dessert bars are.
These pumpkin bars are so addicting and very delicious! I’m in love with these pumpkin recipes I keep seeing for fall. My family is going to be obsessed with this recipe!
I have found my new fall treat!! That cream cheese swirl is so good with the pumpkin & the mini chips makes it even better!
Looks so good! Just sad I didn’t see it in time for this past Thanksgiving. I’m gonna remember them come this November!
Nice recipe. Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by! XO
More pumpkin! Love all these pumpkin recipes you have been sharing! And I love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate.
Yes – pumpkin and chocolate is delicious!! Thank you for stopping by. 🙂