Pumpkin Pecan Bars

I’ve got a pumpkin recipe for you, just in time for the holidays.  It is a combination of pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and a bar cookie.  The idea came from the Kraft website but I changed up this recipe quite a bit to come up with these goodies.

Here’s what you’ll need and how I made them:
Printable Version
2 cups flour
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup chopped pecans

8oz. pkg. cream cheese
15 oz. canned pumpkin or sweet potato
1 1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/4 teas. cloves
1/2 teas. ginger
1/4 teas. nutmeg
3 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 pan with foil.  Spray the foil with cooking spray.

Combine flour, 1/3 cup white sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar and then cut in butter. Once these have been combined, add the quick oats and pecans.

Set aside 2 cups of this oat mixture and press the rest of this mixture into the bottom of the 9×13 foil-lined, greased pan.  Bake this crust for 15 minutes.

While this is baking, beat the cream cheese, pumpkin, spices, eggs, and 3/4 cup white sugar.
Pour this mixture on top of the baked crust.  Finally, sprinkle the reserved 2 cups of oat mixture on the top and bake for 50 minutes.

After baking, use the foil to remove bars from pan and cool on cooling rack.  Cool completely.  Store in the refrigerator.

These were really good the night I made them but they were great the day after!