Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars
These Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars feature creamy cheesecake topped with a vanilla bean whipped cream…all over a gingersnap crust! Talk about the perfect Autumn dessert!
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Me: Robbie, at this rate, we’ll be cleaning up toys until the cows come home.
Robbie: What?
Me: We’ll be cleaning up toys forever.
I realized recently that explaining things to an almost 4-year old isn’t easy. And that task is even harder for a Southerner like me whose vocabulary consists of all sorts of ridiculous phrases. “Madder than a wet hen.” is a common saying around here. So is “It’s raining harder than a frog pissing on a flat rock.” (Ok, maybe I watch my language a bit around Robbie, but still.) Same goes for “Until the cows come home.” Taken literally, those phrases are ridiculous. Taken figuratively, those phrases are ridiculous. And then go and try to explain them to a 4-year-old. I challenge you!
English is a silly language. There’s no denying that. Back in my Latin teacher days, I’d start every year off explaining to my students that English is a more difficult language to learn than Latin. They’d tell me I was wrong, but by the end of the year they understood. We know English because we grew up speaking it, but the language makes no sense. It doesn’t follow a normal pattern. And then you go and add in phrases like “Kiss my grits.” or “Gimme some sugah.” It’s hopeless.
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake BarsThese Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars? Now that’s something everyone can understand…even a 4-year old! Robbie looked at these bars with mild skepticism before promptly eating one for dessert. To be fair, he did scrape all of the vanilla bean whipped cream off the top and eat it first. “Mmmm…that’s good!”
Truth be told, these cheesecake bars are just a slight twist on this Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake I made several years ago. I love the flavor of that cheesecake, so I decided to alter it slightly into bar form. There is so much flavor going on in these cheesecake bars! I opted for just cinnamon in the cheesecake mixture, but feel free to go all pumpkin spice and add some ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
Do you need to swirl these bars? Well, no. I think the swirl looks pretty cool, but you could absolutely skip that step and save about 5 minutes of prep time. But whatever you do, don’t skip the vanilla bean whipped cream on top! I used vanilla bean paste to really highlight the vanilla flavor here. That strong vanilla flavor + the creamy pumpkin cheesecake + the spicy gingersnap crust = the perfect Autumn dessert!
One more baking tip: parchment paper. Parchment paper is your friend here! I happen to have an 8″x8″ baking pan with a removable bottom, and that’s great for baking…but I still used parchment paper for these Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars. Just leave an extra couple of inches of overhang on all sides, and it makes removing the cheesecake from the pan a piece of cake…err, piece of cheesecake. Just wait until the cheesecake is nice and chilled before lifting it out of the pan. Happy baking, my friends!
Did you make a batch of these Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars at home? Leave a comment. Or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog)!
Looking for other tasty cheesecake recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
PB&J Cheesecake Bars
Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake Brownies
Maple Cheesecake with Pecan Pralines
Fresh Blueberry Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the Gingersnap Crust
- 1¾ cups gingersnap crumbs ~30-35 gingersnap cookies
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
For the Cheesecake
- 2 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- ½ Tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
For the Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
Instructions
For the Gingersnap Crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Using a food processor or mini-chopper, pulse the gingersnaps until finely ground.
- Using a medium bowl, add gingersnap crumbs, brown sugar, ginger and melted butter; stir until well combined.
- Line an 8”x8” baking pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving enough to overhang on the edges. (Note: This will help remove the cheesecake later.)
- Press the crust mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. (Tip: A flat-bottomed glass helps pack the crust mixture down evenly.)
- Bake for 10 minutes; remove from oven and let cool.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
For the Cheesecake
- Using a countertop mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy (3 minutes on medium-high speed).
- Add 2 of the eggs and the additional egg yolk; mix until well combined. (Note: The remaining egg will be used later.)
- Add the sour cream and vanilla extract; mix until well combined.
- Remove 1½ cups of batter and combine this with the remaining egg, pumpkin puree and cinnamon.
- Pour plain batter on top of the cooled crust. Pour pumpkin batter on top of plain batter. Using a table knife, gently swirl the pumpkin batter into the plain batter.
- Bake for 42-45 minutes, or until center of cheesecake is set.
- Refrigerate until cold before slicing.
For the Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream
- Combine all ingredients in small bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until stiff peaks form.
- Spread a thin layer of whipped cream across top of cheesecake bars before serving.
So true what you say about the English language! I’m in Italy at the moment, as I mentioned on instagram – and honestly, I find myself saying somethings that they must think are TRULY ridiculous – LOL!
Then I smile, and say grazie and all is okay again 😉
Now these pumpkin swirl cheesecake bars are looking so delicious!! Perfect sweet treat for this time of year without a doubt!
Haha! English really is a wacky language. I’ll tell ya that I would LOVE to trade places with you right now, Alex. I love everything about Italy. I hope you’re having an awesome time…I’ll continue to Instagram-stalk your adventures. 🙂
In other news, these pumpkin cheesecake bars really are quite tasty. Maybe for when you get back from vacation!
Hi David! I love pumpkin desserts. I think I’ve mentioned my son’s favorite dessert is pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. However, I don’t like gingersnaps so I’d go with a graham cracker crust with some pumpkin pie spice added. I am totally into fall foods! The temps are going to be in the high 20’s at night here and that’s cold! Have you gotten any of the white stuff yet? The English language is confusing if you didn’t learn it from birth. Latin was confusing to me at first, but then it made a lot of sense later on.
I think a graham cracker crust would be totally acceptable here! Gingersnaps are a strong flavor, so I totally understand what you mean there. Oh my gosh, high 20’s at night? That’s legit cold for this time of the year! No snow here yet (thankfully!!), but we’re getting down to the 20’s on some nights as well. (I say this as today is going to be low 70’s and super wet…go figure.)
these look so absolutely delicious david. yum!! we call cream that is whipped with vanilla and icing sugar a chantilly cream. do they say that in your neck of the woods?:-) Once again without a tin of pumpkin puree, i probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of making it just for these bars but you never know…. cheers sherry
So I have heard of chantilly cream, but it’s not a common term in our neck of the woods. To be honest, I’m not sure I really knew what it was until now! I totally understand about making these given the lack of canned pumpkin. I’m so surprised canned pureed pumpkin is still not a thing down there. It’s everywhere here this time of the year!
I love that comic. So cute! And so true, impossible to explain things to little kids sometimes. So funny, just an hour ago(!) my 13-yr-old asked me what “walking on egg shells” meant. Not a southern saying, but still a good one. 😉 On to the cheesecake bars . . . YUM! Those are some perfect looking layers you’ve created, and I love the bits of gingersnaps on top. ~Valentina
Oh geez. Walking on eggshells is totally another one of those sayings. We all know what it means, but try explaining that one to a kid! Talk about perfect timing there. 🙂
So these cheesecake bars are hands-down one of my favorite desserts! They’ve got all the Fall flavors in there, and I totally can’t be trusted around a tray of these. Haha! Thanks, Valentina!
“Until the cows come home” and that picture – hilarious! Does that saying refer to something that will never happen (I hope it’s extremely rare when cows visit someone’s home!) or to a messy situation around someone’s place? I think Russian language has a phrase suggesting that someone’s room looks “like a pig barn” which will take forever to clean up”. How rude, eh? – I do like the example with cows more!
Now let’s talk about these pumpkin cheesecake bars – they must be delicious, and they also look stunning!
Trick or treat, David. I mean, pass me a large slice please! 🙂
hah! So “until the cows come home” means you’ll be doing it for a very long time. It might eventually happen, but it’ll take a while.
Trick or treat right back at ya, Ben! Come on down and I’ll make sure to have some pumpkin cheesecake bars waiting at the door. Haha!
Funny how some phrases we use we take for granted and think others know what we mean! I know a bunch of Newfoundland phrases and sometimes assume that when I say them, others will know what I’m talking about, but not so much. These cheesecake bars look like the perfect bite, David! I would so much rather these than any store bought candy today. They look creamy dreamy delish, my friend 🙂 Pinned! Have a good one!
I love your Newfoundland educational posts, Dawn! Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any new “Newfie phrases of the month” lately. Did I just miss them?
I do love a good store-bought candy bar, but I would totally go for these cheesecake bars instead…if there were any left. Oops! 🙂
The English language is a funny thing. Totally tough to teach kids how to read it too. There are not set rules, there are exceptions to everything. Just look at cough, although and slough! Crazy! These cheesecake bars look amazing. Perfect for Thanksgiving.
We haven’t quite gotten into the teaching to read thing yet, but it’s coming…and soon. Robbie “reads” to himself every night in his room. That basically means he memorizes the books that we read and then he reads them back to himself. 🙂 Cough, although and slough is an excellent example of the ridiculousness of the English language! Latin is so much more logical!
Also, these cheesecake bars are logical…as in it’s logical to see how quickly they disappear. Haha! Thanks, Kathy!
I was almost a linguistics major in college and I remember one of my professors, who was Chinese, talk about how hard it is to learn English. And I was like, coming from a linguistics professor and native Chinese speaker, that’s saying something! Is it weird that this post has me missing school? And also missing cheesecake because I don’t currently have any in the house. Clearly I need to make a batch of these GORGEOUS bars! They sound sooo good!
A linguistics major, eh? I learn something new about you every day, Kelsie! I totally understand what you mean about missing school. I hated the pressures to read piles of journal articles and write constantly, but I did love to learn! Also, how in the world do you (of all people!) not have cheesecake in the house right now!? Fix that. ASAP. Please. 🙂
I love how kids are so literal! It’s fun to consider the origin of common phrases and I often wonder, what is it that makes certain ones stick and spread. The frog one is new to me, btw, lol!
I’m always up for pumpkin cheesecake and love them in bar form, especially topped with vanilla bean whipped cream. Yes please!
Yup, drop that frog comment in there occasionally. It’s fun to see people’s reaction. Haha! Also, pumpkin cheesecake + vanilla bean whipped cream? Absolutely delicious! Thanks, Marissa!
I never thought about the English language, but I can see where it would be tough to learn. These pumpkin bars look fantastic! Perfect for this time of year.!!
English really is a confusing language. We all get it because we grew up speaking English, but there is absolutely no logic to this language at all! But these pumpkin cheesecake bars? It’s logical to eat the whole tray. 🙂 Thanks, Dawn!
I love the vanilla bean whipped cream on top of these cheesecake bars. And as you know cheesecake is a particular favourite of mine! Yum!
Yes! I do know about your love for cheesecake, Neil. I don’t know if canned (tinned) pumpkin is a thing over there, but pumpkin in cheesecake is pretty much amazing! Try a slice! 🙂
I particularly like these photos, David. They’re downright creamy. I also love anything pumpkin. And anything cheesecake. That frog saying is new to me. Had to think about it for a while.
Why thank you very much, Jeff. You are too kind! Also, if you work that frog saying into a conversation today, then I’ll make you a batch of these cheesecake bars. (I can’t promise I will actually mail them, but I’ll make ’em. Then I’ll eat ’em in your honor.) 🙂