I stumbled upon these amazingly beautiful cream cheese pumpkin bars. They are advertised as being light, airy, and delicious.This sounded like a great substitute for the dense pumpkin cheesecake bars or pumpkin pie usually seen on the Thanksgiving dessert table so I had to give them a try.

Substituting with local ingredients the recipe matched the description and did not disappoint! The bars are light enough that you can enjoy them with your morning coffee, or serve them as a show-stopping Thanksgiving dessert along with some fluffy whipped cream, or drizzled with raw local honey on top. To make them even more delicate I substituted all the white flour with Organic corn flour found in the 21 Acres Farm Market. The warm fall spices combined with the lightness of the corn flour turned out to be an extremely tasty substitution giving the bars a light nutty flavor! In addition, honey makes a great substitute in the cream cheese mixture! 

Make sure to give these delectable bars a try — hey were definitely a hit with all of us at 21 Acres! 

RECIPE: Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bars

Bar Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar (you could substitute honey here, but it will be more dense)
1 cup sunflower oil
1 ¾ cups pumpkin puree – I used 1 small Red Kuri and a Winter Luxury (both found in the Farm Market)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups corn flour (found in the Farm Market
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp fresh grated ginger (ground is fine too)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Cream Cheese Mixture Ingredients: 

16 oz. cream cheese-softened 
1 ½ tbsp corn starch
3 tbsp + 1 tsp local raw honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs- slightly beaten

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grab a 10 x 15 x 1 jelly roll pan, set aside.

To make pumpkin bars first whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat 4 eggs and sugar. Add oil, pumpkin and vanilla and mix to combine.

Mix in dry ingredients and pour in prepared pan, then smooth the top.

Mix softened cream cheese, honey, corn starch and  vanilla until smooth. Add eggs and mix just to combine. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag or zip-lock bag and cut off the corner. Draw the lines of cream cheese mixture diagonally on top of pumpkin pie mixture.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool completely before serving

Kari’s Tips and Notes: If you don’t have all the individual spices readily available, substituting 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice would be a great. And if you are intimidated by the thought of piping, (although I suggest you give it a try, the key is to keep the top of the bag twisted tight!) then spooning globs of the cream cheese mixture and running a knife through them to make swirls would be just as beautiful.