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You are here: Home / bars / pumpkin cheesecake bars with salted caramel swirl

pumpkin cheesecake bars with salted caramel swirl

October 26, 2013 by Taylor 4 Comments

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Salted Caramel Swirl

Ahhhh, yes.  It’s the weekend!  How was your week?  I had a pretty great week consisting of lots of yoga, two puppy play dates, my first post-marathon run, a lettuce eating Instagram video, steak fajitas, pork tacos, and mason jar crafting.  Oh, and these sugar cookie bottom, salted caramel swirled pumpkin cheesecake bars.  Again, with the pumpkin.  And again, with the salted caramel.  I KNOW.  I just can’t stay away.  The combination is pure magic, I swear.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Salted Caramel Swirl

I made these for my co-workers after getting an email from one of them on Monday afternoon, politely asking if I would make treats.  The email also included a picture of a kitten.  Now, I’m not really a fan of cats and if he really wanted to tug at my heart strings he would have used a picture of a puppy, buuuut the picture was pretty cute.  So off to the kitchen I went!

I’ve made a couple different kinds of pumpkin cheesecake before (here and here), but never pumpkin cheesecake bars.  I feel like an entire cheesecake usually isn’t made unless there’s an event like Thanksgiving or a birthday, and cheesecake bars are the more casual version. They’re more laid back, less complicated, and don’t crack under pressure (ha. ha. ha.).  My kinda dessert.

Since I loved the combination of salted caramel and pumpkin in my pumpkin bars, I decided to fancy up plain ‘ol pumpkin cheesecake bars with salted caramel too.  Also, because I can’t leave good enough alone.  Life of a food blogger, I tell ya.  Instead of a graham cracker or gingersnap crust (which I’m sure would both be delicious) I did a sugar cookie crust, instead.  I’m always a fan of thick crusts, so I was a total sucker for these bars.

They were deliciously irresistible and probably (okay, definitely) the reason my pants feel a little bit tighter this weekend.  But I have two words for that: worth it.  If you need an impressive dessert but want it on the easier side – these bars are for you!  There are two rounds of mixing due to the cookie dough and pumpkin cheesecake, but really both of them are a matter of just beating together the ingredients.  Also, I know not every one has a jar of fleur de sel laying around so if you don’t, you could leave it out, but if you do, DON’T leave it out!  The salty crunch was my favorite part.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Salted Caramel Swirl

pumpkin cheesecake bars with salted caramel swirl

Amazing pumpkin cheesecake bars with a salted caramel swirl.
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cheesecake, pumpkin, bars, thanksgiving, fall, caramel, salted caramel, dessert
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
50 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 293kcal
Author: Taylor

Ingredients

for the sugar cookie crust:

  • 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

for the pumpkin cheesecake:

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cloves
  • 1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg
  • 1/3 cup salted caramel sauce homemade or store-bought
  • fleur de sel sea salt for topping

Instructions

For the crust:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Line an 8x8 pan with foil and coat with cooking spray.
  • Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  • Add egg and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
  • Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan to make an even bottom layer.

To make the pumpkin cheesecake:

  • Beat cream cheese in a stand mixer until creamy, about 1 minute.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  • Pour cheesecake over cookie dough crust.
  • Put dollops of the caramel sauce on pumpkin cheesecake, then swirl with a knife. I heated mine in the microwave for 20 seconds before doing this so it was easier to swirl.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 27-30 minutes. The middle will still seem a bit "jiggly" but it will set up as it cools.
  • Let cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes) then transfer to refrigerator to cool completely.
  • Sprinkle with fleur de sel and cut into squares.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 196mg | Potassium: 84mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 2654IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @greensnchocolate to let me know!
Need more ideas?Find all of my recipe pins @greenschocolate

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Salted Caramel Swirl

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Filed Under: bars, dessert, holidays, Uncategorized Tagged With: caramel pumpkin bars, pumpkin cheesecake bars, salted caramel pumpkin cheesecake bars

Previous Post: « Quinoa and Kale Stuffed Acorn Squash
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sam M. | Atkinson Drive says

    October 26, 2013 at 8:17 am

    These look delicious! I’d love for you to join the Pinworthy Projects link party! http://www.atkinsondrive.com/pinworthy-projects-link-party-12/

    Reply
  2. Katie @ running4cupcakes says

    October 27, 2013 at 10:16 am

    Oh yum!! Anything with salted caramel is good in my book. Also mason jar crafting – what did you make??

    Reply
  3. Karen Maupin says

    September 1, 2014 at 8:39 am

    Any ideas on how to use all the extra tomatoes in the garden? We’ve made salsa, tomato sauce, BLTs, stuffed tomatoes. Thinking I need to can, but not sure of a great way to do it to keep the flavor intact.

    Reply
    • Taylor says

      September 2, 2014 at 7:42 am

      What a fun problem to have on your hands 🙂 I’ve canned tomatoes and had great luck…it’s always so nice to grab a jar in January when fresh garden tomatoes seem like a distant memory. I have used this tutorial before: http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/08/29/making-the-basics-canned-tomatoes/ Hope this helps Karen!

      Reply

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Hi! Welcome to greens & chocolate, where healthy cooking meets sinful indulgence. I'm Taylor, a Minnesota girl who loves eating healthy, a daily chocolate indulgence, and running, yoga, and chasing after my sons to balance it all out. I'm so happy you stopped by, and hope you enjoy the recipes I have to share!

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