How To Make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Bars
These delightful swirl bars come with a rich cream cheese filling in between soft and chewy spiced pumpkin bars. Top with pumpkin seeds for some crunch!
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1cupunsalted butter,softened to room temperature
- 1cuplight or dark brown sugar,packed
- 1large egg,at room temperature
- 1tsppure vanilla extract
- 1cuppumpkin puree
- 2cupsall purpose flour,spoon & leveled
- 1tspbaking soda
- 1tspground cinnamon
- 2½tsppumpkin pie spice
- ¾tspsalt
For Cream Cheese Swirl:
- 8ozbrick style cream cheese,softened to room temperature
- ¼cupgranulated sugar
- 1large egg,at room temperature
- 1tsppure vanilla extract
- ¼cuppepitas,tossed in a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
Instructions
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Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides. Set aside.
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In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy.
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Add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until fluffy and light in color. Beat in egg and vanilla at high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
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At medium speed, beat in the pumpkin until combined. The mixture will look curdled; that’s ok.
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In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together until combined.
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At low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined. Do not overmix. The mixture will be thick.
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Spread ⅔ of the batter evenly into the prepared pan; it will be a relatively thin layer.
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In a medium bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer filled with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy.
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Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat on high speed until completely combined. Drop random spoonfuls on top of the pumpkin batter.
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Drop the remaining pumpkin batter on top of the spoonfuls of cream cheese. With a rubber spatula or knife, begin gently swirling the two together. Both mixtures are thick, so go slowly.
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Jiggle the pan back and forth to get the layers to settle into the pan. Don’t worry if it looks messy; everything will come together in nice swirls as the bars bake. Sprinkle cinnamon-pepitas on top of the swirled batter.
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Bake the bars for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
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Allow the bars to cool completely at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator for about 2 hours before cutting into squares.
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Leftover bars can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
- Calories: 187.89kcal
- Fat: 12.12g
- Saturated Fat: 6.97g
- Trans Fat: 0.31g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 3.19g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.83g
- Carbohydrates: 17.60g
- Fiber: 0.74g
- Sugar: 8.71g
- Protein: 2.78g
- Cholesterol: 46.23mg
- Sodium: 125.57mg
- Calcium: 26.08mg
- Potassium: 74.35mg
- Iron: 0.94mg
- Vitamin A: 185.42µg
- Vitamin C: 0.50mg
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