Holiday Dessert: Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

I used to have the hardest time remembering how to spell dessert. I’d find myself going to write it – and second-guessing about whether it had one “s” or two. One day, someone told me the most clever way to remember. Dessert has the double “s” because you always want seconds of dessert. And, since I’ve got dessert on the brain, I want to share my pumpkin cheesecake squares that I took to Thanksgiving last week.

They were such a hit that my father-in-law wanted me to make a batch that he could have this week. Now, it’s kind of an involved recipe, but don’t let that scare you. By involved, I really mean that it’s one of those recipes that you will need to set time aside for chilling once everything is baked. It’s not a dish that you can bake and take somewhere right after it’s out of the oven. I would say you need about five hours total from start to finish!

I just did a workout (excuse the mess behind me), and now I’m craving one of these myself! What I like about these is that you can cut them in smaller pieces, which is nice for a group gathering. I feel like there is always so much dessert around the holidays, that it’s nice to be able to have smaller desserts – so you can have more than one 🙂

You’ll make this in three parts, so let’s get right into it, shall we?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares Ingredients

Crust:

1 and 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter (melted)
1/4 brown sugar

Pumpkin pie filling:

1 cup of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons corn starch
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cheesecake filling:

8 ounces of cream cheese
1 cup of greek yogurt (I use 2% fage)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pumpkin cheesecake squares: what you do

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Make your crust first. Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and brown sugar together in a small bowl.
Press into the bottom of 9X13 pan that is either greased well – or covered with parchment paper.
Pop into the oven for 8 minutes.
Remove and set aside while you make the filling.

Combine all of the pumpkin pie filling ingredients.
Mix well.
Once all ingredients are combined, set aside 1/2 a cup of the filling.
Pour the remaining filling over the crust.

Now it’s time to make your cheesecake filling. You don’t need a mixer for this, but you can use one if you have it.
If you don’t have a mixer, heat your cream cheese up for about 30 seconds so it’s easier to mix.
Add in your greek yogurt, vanilla, egg and sugar.
Mix until smooth.
Pour your cheesecake mixture over your pumpkin pie layer.
Next, pour that 1/2 cup of pumpkin pie filling you set aside earlier. Dribble along the top of your squares
Grab a toothpick or a skewer and swirl the pumpkin pie layer and your cheesecake layer together.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the middle of your squares are no longer jiggly.
Let cool on a wire rack completely.
Once it’s done cooling, chill in the refrigerator at least one hour prior to serving.
Do not cut the bars until they are completely chilled!