‘Tis the season for PUMPKIN! We’ve been waiting all year for this and now it’s finally arrived. For us, fall signals the return of all of our favorite things, like cozy sweaters, apple picking, and homemade pies. And throughout the whole season, pumpkin is everywhere – from Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Lattes to jack-o-lanterns on Halloween. Given the ubiquitous love for our orange friend, we have decided to highlight some of our favorite recipes that include pumpkin.

To kick us off, we to put a pumpkin twist on a traditional cheesecake recipe. We use our crushed Chocolate Pumpkin Pie soft-baked biscotti cookies to make up our crust instead of the usual graham crackers. This pumpkin cheesecake bar recipe has the best of both worlds, with a layer of classic cheesecake on top of the crust then a layer of the cheesecake filling blended with pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices.

Top it all off with a pumpkin spiced whipped cream, and you’ve got yourself a new favorite cheesecake! We can’t wait to bring these Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars to a Halloween party or cut them up into bite-sized pieces and serve them on a fall-themed dessert bar.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars (adapted from A Treats Affair recipe)

Ingredients

Crust:

12 1oz Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Soft-Baked Biscotti Cookies (or 2 bags of Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Cookies Bites), crushed into crumbs

¼ cup melted butter

Filling:

4 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 cup (8 oz) canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spices (blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish:

Whipped cream

Pumpkin pie spice

Method

Heat oven to 300 degrees F Line a 13X9 baking pan with parchment paper leaving about 1 inch of paper hanging on the sides. In a medium size bowl, combine the biscotti cookies crumbs with the melted butter. With your fingers press the crust on the bottom of the prepared pan. Set aside while making the filling. In the mixing bowl of your stand up mixer, add the cream cheese and sugar. With the paddle attachment on, beat on low speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Spoon half of the mixture over the crust and spread evenly. To the remaining cream cheese mixture, add the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. With a wire whisk, stir until smooth. Carefully spoon over mixture in pan. Bake the cheesecake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until just set. Turn off the oven and leave the door ajar allowing the cheesecake to slowly cool down for about 1 hour or so. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before cutting into bars.

Top each pumpkin cheesecake bar with a dollop of spiced whipped cream. Enjoy!

Ready to Get Baking?