Maple Cheesecake Pumpkin Bars

Oh boy are these fall treats tasty! The maple syrup adds a great rich touch to the cheesecake layer while the pumpkin is spiced to perfection. The bars would be the perfect snack for a crisp fall day or served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. We didn’t top these with pecans, but that certainly would be a nice finishing touch. The pumpkin base is like moist cake and rises pretty high, so plan to eat with a fork.

Maple Cheesecake Pumpkin Bars

Cheesecake topping ingredients:

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Pumpkin cake ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp pumpkin spice
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

Instruction:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Mix together cheesecake topping ingredients until completely smooth and no clumps remain. Set aside.
2. Stir pumpkin cake dry ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed.
3. In a small bowl, mix together all wet pumpkin cake ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour wet pumpkin cake ingredients into the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until just combined.
5. Pour pumpkin cake mixture into a 9×9 baking pan. I used a coated USA Pan so I didn’t need to grease the pan. If your pan does not have a non-stick coating, spray with oil or coat with butter.
6. Spoon cheesecake mixture into pan, on top of the pumpkin cake mixture. Take a knife/spreader (plastic or wood is best to avoid scratching your pan) and swirl through the layers to create a marbled effect.
7. Bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly before serving, so the cheesecake layer can firm up.