Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Quick and easy pumpkin bars recipe with cream cheese frosting, requires simple ingredients. They are soft, moist, firm and the perfect Thanksgiving dessert.
I make these simple pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting a lot during the Fall season and it always makes its way to my Thanksgiving dessert menu as well. When they are baking, the fill your house with the most incredible pumpkin spice aroma. These are just as good as my Easy Pumpkin Donuts Recipe and my Easy Pumpkin Cake… Always a hit with family and friends!
Among all the pumpkin bars recipes I have tried, these ones are the BEST!
These pumpkin dessert bars are soft, moist but still firm.
They don’t exactly have a cake-like texture or a cookie-like texture. It’s something amazing between those 2 textures.
These are not pumpkin pie bars!
Those have a pie crust and there is an ooey gooey pumpkin pie filling.
Don’t skimp on pumpkin pie spice in these pumpkin spice bars!
Pumpkin pie spice is what truly gives these bars their wonderful Fall flavor and aroma. Reducing it would not have the same impact.
Pumpkin cheesecake bars
You can swirl a cheesecake layer on top of the batter, prior to baking and the pumpkin batter and cheesecake batter will bake together. The baking time will be a little longer though.
These are not pumpkin pie bars!
Those have a pie crust and there is an ooey gooey pumpkin pie filling.
Don’t make cake mix pumpkin bars with a spice cake mix.
Normally, I am a big fan of doctored cake mix recipes but this time, I didn’t like it. The texture of those cake mix bars ended up being more like a cake and they just weren’t as good as these bars, in terms of flavor, either.
These are not healthy pumpkin bars!
There is a lot of sugar and a lot of eggs and that’s what gives these perfect flavor and texture.
Pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting/ cream cheese icing
Cream cheese frosting is technically optional but I highly recommend it because that’s what really takes these bars over the top. Without frosting, these bars just taste average.
Pumpkin cream cheese bars
Rather than adding cream cheese into the batter, I recommend spreading cream cheese frosting on top of the baked bars for the best flavor.
Pumpkin chocolate chip bars
Stir in 3/4 cups chocolate chips of your choice- Milk chocolate, semisweet, white, butterscotch, toffee e.t.c.
Gluten free pumpkin bars
Use Bob’s gluten free 1 to 1 flour blend. It works very well.
Ooey gooey pumpkin bars
Instead of topping these bars with cream cheese frosting, you can top them off with thick spiced caramel sauce, which would make them very ooey gooey.
Do you put pumpkin bars in the fridge?
You can put them in there to cool them down quicker and then frost them. You should definitely be storing leftovers in the fridge to prevent them from going bad at room temperature.
How long do you cook pumpkin bars?
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.
How many cups of pumpkin in a 15 oz can?
It’s about 2 cups of pumpkin puree.
Tips for easy pumpkin bars
- Don’t use pumpkin pie filling. You must use pumpkin puree. Both are very different and can affect these bars texture dramatically.
- Both, granulated and brown sugar, are required for this recipe. Don’t replace one with the other.
- Don’t replace all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour because that makes very dense bars.
- Don’t replace oil with butter because that makes these bars very heavy and dense.
- Make sure the bars cool down completely before frosting them or else frosting will melt and make a mess.
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature so that they blend together smoothly.
What do you do with a pumpkin?
Here are some desserts you can make with canned or fresh pumpkin:
- Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust
- Pumpkin Pie Fudge with Gingersnap Crust
- Candy Corn Pumpkin Truffles
Easy Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup Brown sugar
- 2 tsp Pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 4 Eggs, Large
- 1 can Pumpkin puree, 15 oz. can
- 1 cup Oil
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 cups Cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and baking powder.
- Add eggs, pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla extract and mix until just combined. Don't over-mix!
- Pour the the batter in a 10 x 15 pan (lined with parchment paper) and spread it with a spatula evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Let it cool down completely.
- Spread frosting on top.
- Cut into square pieces and enjoy.
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Until next time, tata my lovelies!
I would eat the whole pan by myself. Sounds amazing!
These were amazing. The only thing I added was 1/2 tsp. Salt.