Pumpkin Pie Bars recipe – easy dessert bars made with canned pumpkin pie filling that resembles the creamy texture of pumpkin pie. Topped with a delicious homemade cream cheese frosting, this pumpkin bar recipe is a huge hit for Thanksgiving.
The Best Pumpkin Pie Bars Recipe
If you love pumpkin as much as I do, these pumpkin bars are perfect. With the perfect amount of pumpkin and spice flavor topped with cream cheese frosting, they are truly scrumptious. Pumpkin Pie Bars are the quintessential fall recipe you expect to see at the Thanksgiving dessert buffet. They are a nice change from traditional pumpkin pie. If you prefer a more cakey texture, try our traditional pumpkin bars recipe.
Here are a few of our other fun pumpkin pie desserts including Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes, Pumpkin Pie Cookies, Fireball Whiskey Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie Monkey Bread and Pumpkin Pie Dip.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Pumpkin – you will need pumpkin puree – not pumpkin pie filling.
- Eggs – the eggs will bind all the ingredients together.
- Sugar – granulated sugar.
- Oil – we used vegetable oil.
- Vanilla Extract– this adds a nice flavor to the bars.
- Spices – cinnamon, ground ginger and ground cloves. If you don’t have ginger and cloves, you can add a teaspoon of homemade pumpkin pie spice.
- Flour – all-purpose flour.
- Salt – just a pinch.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda
- Cream Cheese Frosting – feel free to top these with our easy Homemade Whipped Cream instead.
How To Make Pumpkin Pie Bars
- Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of a 9*9 inch and spray with cooking spray. Set aside while you make the batter.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, ground ginger, and cloves,
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add half of the flour mixture and mix well. Once it is mixed, add the remainder of the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl and mix on high for a few more seconds.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture into the pan you prepared and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. A toothpick with come out clean when inserted once the cake is done. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- As the bars are cooling, you can mix together the ingredients for the frosting. Make sure the bars have cooled completely before you put spread on the cream cheese frosting. Otherwise, it will melt and just won’t look or taste as good!
How To Store:
If you make these pumpkin bars without the frosting, you could store it at room temperature but since this recipe does have the cream cheese frosting, you will want to make sure to keep them in the refrigerator. This will keep the frosting from spoiling too soon. Make sure to have the bars wrapped well.
Can You Freeze Pumpkin Bars?
You can certainly freeze these pumpkin bars to help make them last longer or so you can have them on hand all the time. You can freeze the whole pan or you can freeze them cut apart into individual bars. Use whatever method works best for you.
Since I want to be able to pull out individual ones at a time, I like to cut them apart to freeze individually. I don’t want to have to worry about losing the frosting in the process, so I like to freeze these bars first on a baking sheet for about 1 hour. This lets them hard enough that I can wrap them individually and pop them into a freezer bag to grab one at a time later.
This protects the bars twice as well and it lets me take out what I need at the time. Be sure to take the plastic wrap off when you are ready to thaw the pumpkin bars.
More Pumpkin Dessert Recipes
- Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes
- Pumpkin Sheet Cake
- Pumpkin Fluff Dip
- 2-ingredient Pumpkin Brownies
- Pumpkin Poke Cake
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Ingredients
FOR THE PUMPKIN BARS:
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
FOR THE FROSTING:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup butter softened not melted
- 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Instructions
- Line the bottom of a 9"x 9" baking dish with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray and set aside.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, mix the pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves until all ingredients are well blended.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl with the pumpkin mixture, and mix well. Add the remainder of the flour, and mix until smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix on high for a few seconds.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture into the baking dish and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven to a wire rack and cool completely.
- While the pumpkin bars are baking, you can begin making the frosting by placing the cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl and blending until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the vanilla, and blend.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and heavy cream, and blend. Add the remaining powdered sugar, and blend until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and blend again.
- Place the mixing bowl with the frosting in the refrigerator, and let chill until your pumpkin bars have baked and been allowed to cool completely.
- When they have cooled, spread the frosting over the top and sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon. Place back into the refrigerator for about an hour before slicing to serve.
Last Step:
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