Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars are pumpkin flavored brownies with cream cheese swirled throughout. These bars are baked in a 15x10 inch pan. For a half batch, halve each ingredient and use a 9 inch square pan.
Servings 24
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt omit if using salted butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar 288 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin 240 grams
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 220 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Swirl:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar 48 grams
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 15x10 inch pan with non-stick foil or just spray with cooking spray.
- Pumpkin Batter: Beat the melted butter, salt (if using) and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin, and water until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
- Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a separate bowl; stir into batter.
- Spread all but a few tablespoons batter evenly in prepared pan. Reserve the few tablespoons of batter
- Swirl: In a second bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add egg and beat just until it’s mixed in. Drop tablespoons of cheese mixture over pumpkin batter, then drag a knife through to make marbles. Drop reserved tablespoons of pumpkin batter over top. The reason for this is, there’s a lot of white batter, so putting a few tablespoons of pumpkin batter on top gives more of a contrast.
- Bake on center rack until pumpkin batter springs back when touched, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, then chill for an hour or more. Cut into 24 bars.