These swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars feature the flavors of pumpkin pie and creamy cheesecake on a graham cracker crust. This is a delicious and crowd-pleasing holiday dessert that is way easier than making traditional cheesecake.
There are Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars in my fridge and I can’t think straight because I want to be nibbling on them constantly. How many cheesecake bars is it acceptable for an adult woman to consume in one day? Asking for a friend.
I fell in love with cream cheese-pumpkin combo when I made my Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. This recipe has a similar flavor profile, but it tastes more like a traditional cheesecake. These bars have been met with rave reviews and I can’t wait for you to make and share them this holiday season.
Prefer traditional cheesecake bars (no pumpkin)? That recipe is here: Cheesecake Bars.
Recipe overview:
- Graham cracker crust: A mixture of graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. This delicious crust is sweet, buttery, and incredibly easy.
- Filling: A combination of vanilla cheesecake batter and pumpkin cheesecake batter are swirled together to create a creamy and flavorful filling.
- Baking: This recipe bakes in a 9×13 pan, for a total of about 50 minutes.
- Cooling: These cheesecake bars will need to cool completely before cutting and serving. Cool them to room temp, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Flavor: A combination of buttery crust, sweet and tangy cheesecake, pumpkin, warm spices, and a touch of vanilla.
Ease: A simple press-in graham cracker crust crust and a filling that comes together in minutes.
Quantity: This recipe makes a 9×13 pan of bars – perfect for feeding a crowd.
Recipe tips
- Use full-fat cream cheese and sour cream for ths recipe. Low-fat alternatives can have stabilizers in them that might affect the texture.
- Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling (which is already sweetened).
- Don’t overbeat the cheesecake batter. If you add too much air it can crack when it is baking.
- You need to allow at least 8 hours for this cheesecake to cool. It should first cool to room temp, then chill completely in the refrigerator.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Out of sour cream? Try one of these Sour Cream Substitutes.
More pumpkin recipes
Pumpkin Bars – Soft cake-like bars topped with brown butter frosting.
Pumpkin Muffins – Moist pumpkin muffins topped with a brown sugar crumble and cinnamon icing.
Pumpkin Pie Bars – Creamy pumpkin pie filling on top of a shortbread crust.
Pumpkin Pudding Cake – Pumpkin cake that bakes with a brown sugar caramel sauce.
Pumpkin Carrot Cake – A delicious layer cake with cream cheese frosting.
Pumpkin Ice Cream – Super creamy no-churn ice cream that tastes likes pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
Recipe
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 15 whole rectangular graham crackers
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
- 1-¼ cups pumpkin puree
- 1-½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1-½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- Three 8-oz packages full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1-⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1-½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup full fat sour cream
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil and lightly grease the foil.
Crust:
- Place the graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and process until the graham crackers are in fine crumbs (you should have just over 2 cups of crumbs). In a separate bowl, combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter and stir until combined. Press the crust into the bottom of the prepared pan and press it into an even layer (I use the back of a measuring cup).
- Bake the crust for 10-15 minutes until it is just beginning to turn golden brown and fragrant. Place the crust on a wire rack to cool slightly while you make the filling.
Filling:
- In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, spices, and flour. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla, sour cream, and salt, and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, and turning off the mixer as soon as the last egg is fully incorporated.
- Measure out 1-½ cups of the cream cheese mixture and add it to the reserved pumpkin mixture, stirring until combined.
- Alternate scoops of cream cheese filling and the pumpkin filling all over the top of the crust. Use a sharp knife to drag/swirl the two mixtures together (I do figure eights). Be careful not to drag the knife all the way down into the crust.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 35-45 minutes, until the center still has a very slight jiggle but the edges are set. Place on a wire rack to cool completely, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill (this will take several hours).
Video
Notes
- Use full-fat cream cheese and sour cream for ths recipe. Low-fat alternatives can have stabilizers in them that might affect the texture.
- Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling (which is already sweetened).
- Don’t overbeat the cheesecake batter. If you add too much air it can crack when it is baking.
- You need to allow at least 8 hours for this cheesecake to cool. It should first cool to room temp, then chill completely in the refrigerator.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or the freezer for up to 1 month.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Amy
Could this be put into a springform pan like a regular cheesecake?
Allison
I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure. You’ll likely need more of the filling to fill a springform pan.
Janna
I put this into a round tarte pan (with a push up bottom) and it worked perfectly! Was slightly thinner filling but still tasted delicious and everyone loved it. Easy recipe and great results:)
Allison
Awesome! I’m glad that worked. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Amanda
They’re not bad! Just really sweet. Takes away from the flavors. Next time I’ll probably try cutting back on the sugar quite a bit. This coming from someone with a huge sweet tooth. As for my household they were hit or miss. My 2yo son gobbled his up. My 4yo daughter said she didn’t like it. Hubby likes but agreed on them being pretty sweet.
Matteo
Excellent easy to make recipe. It was a good thing my wife was gone for the day, otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to stay in the refrigerator for 6 hours it was that good. One of the easiest pumpkin cheesecake bars I’ve made and it s rich and delicious.
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Liz
Fun recipe to make, smelled and tasted great – but it cracked in most of the places where I swirled the mixture :/ I’m not sure how I could have prevented it, I was careful not to over-mix.
Allison
Hi, Liz. I’m sorry to hear that. I’m wondering if it was overbaked? Perhaps your oven runs on the warmer side? I’m glad it tasted great! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Julie
I haven’t made it yet but we’re looking forward to it. FYI, I noticed the calorie count did not include the crust.
Allison
Hi, Julie. I just double checked my nutrition calculator and there was an error with one of the ingredients. It’s fixed now. Thanks! Enjoy!
Courtney
I have a few quick question it states to let the bars cool for 8 hours does that mean 8 hours on cooling rack then put them in the refrigerator? Also how long do they need to be in the refrigerator for them to completely cool?Do I need to cover them while there in the refrigerator?
Thankyou so much
Allison
At least 8 hours total. They will cool at room temperature on a rack for a few hours then the majority of the cooling time will be in the fridge. Yes, you can cover them, just don’t place the plastic wrap directly on the cheesecake. Enjoy!
Nancy
I can’t find pumpkin purée can I use regular pumpkin?
Allison
Fresh pumpkin that has been cooked and pureed? That should work. Make sure to blot the excess moisture with paper towels. It should be the consistency of canned pumpkin puree.
Tonya
What’s the purpose of the foil? which side goes face up? What if I don’t use it? or can I use parchment paper?
Allison
The foil helps the bars from sticking to the pan and it allows for easy removal and cutting.
Antoni
A day before I finally cut open my pumpkin from October, I saw a buzzfeed video on pumpkin cheesecake bars. I thought they looked delicious, but… I would always rather use a recipe from a person rather than a corporation! For some reason I had to scroll through a lot, but I’m glad I did.
These turned out delicious. They were much simpler to make than a standard cheesecake, which is awesome. I had one issue with the result; I read the comments first and found someone saying it was too sweet. I’m not against incredibly sweet things, but since I’m a dark chocolate kind of guy, I didn’t want to take the risk and reduced the sugar by ¼ cup. I wish I didn’t! Still delicious; would’ve loved it a bit sweeter. (I feel like they might have used pumpkin pie mix instead of canned pumpkin?) Can’t fault the recipe for that, so it’s still 5 stars to me.
Thanks for sharing!
Allison
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. Happy holidays! 🙂
Priscila
So, I actually can’t stand pumpkin pie, but these were FANTASTIC. Total hit at family Thanksgiving dinner.
Allison
That’s great to hear! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Julia Towson
These were delicious. When some of the bars were picked up to eat, the bottom crust dropped off. Any ideas as to what would cause this?.
Allison
Hi, Julia. Hhhhmmm…I’m not sure about that. Were they fully chilled?