Pumpkin Roll Bars
A pumpkin dessert is pretty much a must this time of year. These bars take about the time it takes to make homemade brownies, but the cream cheese swirl makes them seem a little extra fancy (try it with brownies too!). If you don’t want to buy all the spices listed, just buy pumpkin pie spice instead.
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
- ¼ cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1½ cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and water until well blended.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin/butter mixture and combine until well blended.
Spread about ⅔ of the batter evenly into the prepared pan. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, ¼ cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth.
Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the pumpkin batter. Dollop the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese batter and spread out as evenly as possible. Use a table knife to swirl together the cream cheese and top layer of pumpkin batter.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center of the pumpkin batter springs back when touched. Cool completely in pan, then cut into bars. DEVOUR.
This recipe is from The Recipe Critic.
