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Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars are the perfect fall dessert! With layers of streusel, cheesecake filling and a swirl of pumpkin, they’re gorgeous and so delicious!
When do you start thinking “pumpkin?” For me, it’s August. I know, I know…..some of you are rolling your eyes saying that’s wayyyyyy too early! But when the school buses are out, football is back in season and I start seeing trees changing color, I’m 100% on the pumpkin bandwagon!
Why You’ll Love these Delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
- You get the creamy cheesecake layer without needing a hot water bath and a springform pan like a traditional cheesecake.
- Plenty of crumb topping!! I love a good crumb topping and for this recipe, you’ll press some of it on the bottom as the “crust” and the rest on the top. (PS. Though I also love a classic cheesecake’s buttery graham cracker crust, this pecan-studded buttery mixture is too good to pass up!)
- A cake mix simplifies the crumb topping, helping you get these dessert bars into the oven ASAP!
- Great pumpkin flavor! You’ll get pumpkin spice flavor in the crumb topping as well as the pumpkin pie filling layer!
- It’s always a huge hit with family and friends, especially this time of year! (Therefore I love that it’s baked in a 9×13-inch baking dish so there’s plenty for seconds!)
Ingredients Needed
- Cake Mix – I prefer the flavor of yellow cake mix, but white or vanilla cake mix would work great, too.
- Salted Butter
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – Use store-bought or make your own with a mix of ground cinnamon and other fall spices
- Chopped Pecans – If your family doesn’t enjoy pecans in their desserts, you could certainly skip these
- Cream Cheese – You’ll want to be sure this is softened, so you don’t have any lumps in the mixture. I also recommend using full-fat cream cheese so it’s the right consistency.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – Not to be confused with evaporated milk!
- Vanilla Extract
- Pumpkin – Be sure to grab pure pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie mix
- Eggs – I use “large” eggs
- All-Purpose Flour
- Sugar – I use granulated sugar but you can use brown sugar instead if you’d like
- Evaporated Milk
VIDEO: How to Make Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Line the pan with parchment paper. This will make it easier to remove the bars from the pan once they’re chilled.
Mix the crust with a wooden spoon or in a food processor. Press half of the mixture into an even layer in the baking pan. I use a metal 9×13-inch pan, but you could opt to use a glass pan instead (but note that it may take a few more minutes in the oven.)
Make the cream cheese filling. To get the creamy consistency you’re going for, be sure to mix the cream cheese by itself first so it’s nice and smooth. I find it easiest to do this with an electric mixer or a stand mixer. Then, you’ll add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined.
Next up is the pumpkin filling! It’s very similar to mixing up a pumpkin pie filling. Essentially, you’ll add all of the ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
Now you’ll scoop the two fillings alternately into the crust and use a butter knife to swirl the fillings together a bit.
Then crumble the remaining “crust” mixture over the bars and pop them into the oven!
Bake until the center of the bars don’t move when gently jiggled, remove from the oven, let cool completely and refrigerate.
How to Store
Due to the filling in these bars, it’s important to store these in the fridge. They’ll last 5-7 days stored in an airtight container or on a platter covered tightly with plastic wrap.
Other Yummy Pumpkin Recipes
Pumpkin Crisp – It’ll take about 1 bite of this goodness to realize Pumpkin Crisp is your new favorite fall dessert! With smooth, perfectly spiced pumpkin filling and the crunchy topping with gingersnap cookies, it is truly a match made in heaven!!
Pumpkin Churro Mini Muffins – These pumpkin mini muffins are super moist, loaded with fall flavors and coated in a “churro” coating. They’re cute, pop-able and nearly impossible to have “just one!”
Pumpkin Coffee Cake – Pumpkin Coffee Cake has a moist, pumpkin-spiced base, thick crumb layer and a beautiful drizzle of icing to top it off! It’s the quintessential start to a crisp fall day with a cup of hot coffee!
Pumpkin Bars with Browned Butter Frosting – These pumpkin bars are far from ordinary!! With a moist pumpkin bar base and a creamy browned butter frosting, you’ll FALL in love with these in no time!
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Follow along on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook so you never miss a recipe!! And as always, thank you for following along with my blog, making my recipes, liking and sharing on social media and any other way you support Dance Around the Kitchen! -Kelsey
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Bottom + Top Layer
- 1 15.25-ounce box yellow cake mix
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Layer
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese softened
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Pumpkin Layer
- 1 15-ounce can pumpkin (pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line the bottom and sides of a 9×13 pan with parchment paper. Lining the pan helps to remove the bars and cut them easier.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, pumpkin pie spice and chopped pecans.
- Press about half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan and set aside the remainder.
- In another bowl, stir the cream cheese until nice and smooth. Then add the sweetened condensed milk, egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth; set aside. NOTE: This mixture will be runnier than a typical cheesecake.
- In a separate bowl, combine all ingredients for the pumpkin layer. Whisk until smooth and set aside.
- Scoop the cream cheese filling and pumpkin filling over the crust, alternating to create a marbled look. Use a butter knife to carefully marble the fillings together. Again, these fillings are both quite runny, but will set up after they bake. (See video for a better understanding of what the batter will look like).
- Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture over the top of the fillings.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes* or until the bars don't move when jiggled.
- Let cool to room temperature then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Is that a 5oz can if evaporated milk or 15oz can? Does evaporated milk come in cans that small?
Yes, it’s a little can!! Here’s the link to the specific 5 oz can I use! 🙂
I wish there had been a dash in the recipe for the 5 oz can of evaporated milk. It looks like 15 oz. I used the standard size and now too runny. Will not set up I’m assuming.
Hi Diane – I’m sorry you ran into that issue! Let me think on what I can do to fix that issue for people in the future (whether it’s adding a dash or changing the “1” to a “one”)…. My concern with adding a dash would be that people might read it as a range (1-5 oz) rather than a fixed number. Once again, I’m sorry this was an issue. I hope you get a chance to try these with the proper amount as they’re always a crowd favorite!!! 🙂 -Kelsey
Maybe you can write it like this:
(1) 5 oz. can
-Or-
One 5 oz. can
(I had the same question as I looked through the recipe, and figured out that it was a 5 oz. can, but looked through the comments to be sure and was glad I found the exchange above!)
Hi Amy –
Thanks so much. I just got it changed to “One 5 oz can” so hopefully that’ll clear things up for everyone!! I appreciate feedback so much – this one was especially helpful!
-Kelsey
I. caught the 5 oz in the evaporated milk but the batters are still runny and look nothing like your picture. You might check your ingredients and pictures because you haven’t corrected the 1 5oz with a dash or say small can and use appropriate measurements or the recipe needs altered
I agree the batters (both) came out incredibly soft. Hoping it still comes out ok…
I’m glad I’m not the only one! Batters are liquid.
My batters are both super runny too and look nothing like the picture… not sure what I did differently. Hoping it’s still going to work!
Hi Kelly – I just posted a video to go along with the recipe, so I hope that’ll help with any confusion. I’m wondering if some people are getting sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk mixed up….?
I’m about to make this because recipe and pics look delicious but I’m a little concerned about it being running by other comments. Is there any changes I should make. I watched video and looks delish!
Hi! None of these woman are wrong and I thoroughly watched the video. There is something that u must be knowingly doing different here! No matter if you take the recipe at a snails pace, the batters still are far runnier and way less decadent looking! Are you sneaking more pumpkin in there or something?!
Hi! Would this work with spice cake mix or would that be too much spices going on?
Hi Taylor – I think that would work just fine!! I’d probably just omit the additional spices in the mixture with the cake mix. Hope you enjoy!! -Kelsey
These look incredible!!! Unfortunately mine never set either and I’m not sure what I did wrong-not the first time though with a cheesecake. I will say my pumpkin mixture was very soupy, so maybe that’s where everyone needs to make their adjustments. My boys didn’t mind eating the mistakes, so thank you for the recipe!!
I followed the instructions for the cheesecake portion but cut the liquid for the pumpkin filling down and the cheesecake portion is supppper runny!
This recipes Measurements are way off
Wish I had read comments before making because I probably would not have made. The layers are in fact very soupy, not as pictured and there is no way that these will look like the photo at all. I am a seasoned baker, did not use more evaporated milk than the 5oz yet these are not right. Hopefully they will at least taste good considering the cost of ingredients these days. We shall see!
The cheese layer seemed a little too thin and the whole thing turned out too wet. I’m Canadian. We only have 10oz cans of condensed milk here. Maybe I’ll try that next time.
Not sure what everyone did wrong but mine turned out amazing, I actually made mini cheesecakes out of the recipe. Guess I just maybe know how to read a recipe and bake
Mixes were runny! The recipe is not correct. Money wasted!!
Fun concept, but was not as firm as pictured and did not have enough crumble/crust. Some tweaks and this will be tastier and presentable.
I made
I made it this weekend and separated it into 2 8×8’s because I had two parties to attend and everyone loved them! I had to add additional cooking time to get them to set but it all worked out really well. Trust the process!
I’m really hoping these bars come out right, but I have the same comment as many others. The pumpkin and cheesecake layers were both more runny than your pictures/video. I went ahead anyway and then added additional baking time until the center didn’t jiggle, like you said in your post. Took 50 minutes. We’ll see if this comes out right. Once it cools, I’m going to leave it in the fridge for over 24 hours sooooo I’m hoping! I’ll let you all know how it comes out.
Hi Patty – I appreciate you taking the time to give your feedback! The mixes are runny when they go into the oven, but really should firm up nicely once they’re refrigrated. I’d love to hear what you think once they’ve set up! 🙂
-Kelsey
ahhhhh! I forgot the milk in the pumpkin layer. Will it turn out?
Hmmm….that’s a great question. It might be a little more firm, but otherwise should be okay! Let me know how it turned out! 🙂 -Kelsey
Excellent, we shall see. I am doing another batch as well. We are visiting family tomorrow, and this and a charcuterie board are my contributions.
In the video your whisk together the milk and cream cheese before adding the egg and vanilla. That may be important as I am having an issue with cheese lumps.
This is exactly what I needed to see. I had lumps too. I mixed what I could and just let it goooo!
They are cooling now and will be eaten at dinner tonight so wish me luck!!
They looked so yummy and smell delicious! I will follow up with a pic and review of the finished product.
Not as pictured at all
I’m making these right now and I’m not super experienced in cheesecakes/pies. It says to bake for 40mins, but it was still super runny at that point and now it’s notrunny anymore but it still jiggles a little when I move it. Not like a waterbed but it still has a bit of bounce to it. Not sure if I should keep baking or pull it out
What is yellow cake mix? The cheesecake looks absolutely delicious!
Can this be frozen
Thank you
Grace
I haven’t made this yet but I wanted to know if I can use cinnamon instead of pumpkin pie spice.
Yes! That would be just fine. ~Kelsey