Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Swirls

This is my current favorite recipe. It's savory, sweet--but not too sweet, just the right amount of gooeyness, and has a touch of  cheesecake on the top.
. I panicked when I wanted to make this for a gathering a few nights ago and couldn't find it again online. Thankfully, I still had the scrap of paper I wrote it on the first time.Somewhere on the internet is the original recipe, but I've made a few changes that I like better, so that's the version getting posted.

Ingredients:
6 tbsp melted butter (make sure that it cools off a little so that the eggs don't get cooked)
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup water
1 can of pumpkin (this recipe would be really good with a cup or two of sweet potato puree)
1 2/3 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
8 oz cream cheese (softened)

Directions:
Preheat  oven to 350
Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 2 eggs, pumpkin, and water.
 Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg in a separate dish. 
Mix the dry ingredients into the liquids until smooth.
Pour into a greased AND floured pan (if you don't flour the pan you'll never get your bars out)
Smooth out the surface of the batter with a spoon or spatula.

Beat: Cream Cheese (make sure it's soft, or there will be lumps), 1 egg, and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.
Drop teaspoons of the mixture into the batter. (I've done alternating rows of 3 and 4).
When all of the mixture is on the batter, run the tip of a butter knife through to swirl (I usually make a few passes until the swirl is fairly even).
Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350. The bars are done when a knife comes out clean from the pumpkin batter--not the cream cheese. 
Cut into bars and enjoy!


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