PuMpKiN CrEaM ChEeSe BaRs

Tonight I made Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars, the best decision of my whole life. I found the recipe on the blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/ . They are Amazing and you should make them too. Not a lot of odd ingredients, but the pumpkin pie spice, which you can use a substitute for and the pumpkin puree, which you can find pretty easily in the baking section. 

Ingredients:

Filling:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Batter:
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see Note for substitution)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• (optional) 1/2 cup chopped pecan pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Spray a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
3. For the filling: With a hand mixer blend together softened cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
   
4. For the batter: Combine the pumpkin, sugar, egg and oil in medium mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
5. Stir in flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well to combine.
   
6. Pour batter into prepared baking dish, and spread to cover bottom of pan.
7. Add dollops of the cream cheese mixture over the batter. Cut through the batter with a knife to make a marbled effect w/ the cream cheese mixture in an up and down pattern. Repeat going the other way. When marbling make sure you don't go all the way to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans if desired.
8. Bake for 25 - 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool an cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes

If you don't have Pumpkin Pie Spice you can make your own. The substitute for 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice in this recipe is: 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/8 teaspoon allspice.

And Ta Da.........

I did half with the pecans and the other half with none.