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These Pumpkin Bars have a delicious cream cheese frosting and are so easy to make. The texture is a cross between a cookie and a blondie – easy pumpkin bars must have a place at your holiday table!

Pumpkin bars with creamy white frosting, each topped with a small candy pumpkin, are arranged on parchment paper.


One of my favorite things to make with pumpkin are my pumpkin cookies. I’ve stuffed them with caramel and turned them into pumpkin blondies, but I’ve never made them the way pumpkin was intended to be served: with cream cheese frosting.

Instead of these being cake bars, they are Pumpkin Cookie Bars! They start with the perfect pumpkin cookie recipe that are topped with the best cream cheese frosting. The pumpkin flavor is amazing, especially mixed with the easy frosting!

Ingredients Needed

  • Butter: This recipe starts with melted butter. I love the caramelized flavor melted butter adds to this cookie recipe. Plus, by using melted butter you can just use a wooden spoon (no mixer needed) if you want.
  • Sugar: Brown and granulated sugar are used for sweetness.
  • Pumpkin Puree: My recipe uses just 1/3 cup pumpkin puree but don’t worry, the flavor is there.
  • Spices: Besides, the pumpkin “flavor” you’re so used to eating in desserts isn’t really pumpkin – it’s the spices! You’ll need a mixture of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger but if you have or want to make my Pumpkin Pie Spice you can use that instead.
  • Egg: The recipe only uses one egg yolk, not a full egg. Pumpkin is wet and changes the texture of the cookie, so I had to adjust the moisture somewhere.
  • Optional Variations: Add chopped pecans or walnuts to the pumpkin mixture for a crunchy bar!
A glass bowl on a wooden table contains pumpkin puree, brown sugar, white sugar, and melted butter. A wooden spoon with engraved text and a colorful magazine are partially visible on the table.
A glass bowl filled with a brown cookie dough mixture. A wooden spoon rests in the bowl. Next to the bowl, part of a package featuring colorful graphics is visible on a wooden surface.
A rectangular baking pan lined with foil is filled with a smooth, golden-brown batter, ready to be baked. The batters surface shows swirled patterns and has a creamy texture.
A large rectangular pumpkin cake on a baking tray with parchment paper. A generous dollop of cream cheese frosting is spread across the center, ready to be evenly distributed.

How to make Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Place melted butter, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (You can also use a hand mixer or a wooden spoon.) Mix until combined.
  2. Continue mixing and add the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add flour. Slowly mix in flour until a smooth dough forms.
  3. Press dough into prepared baking pan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until just browned around the edges and the teeniest bit jiggly in the center (these are better slightly under baked as they finish baking while they cool).
  4. Make the frosting: beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and mix in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth. Slowly mix in cream until you get a spreadable consistency. Frost bars as desired.
A close-up of a piece of pumpkin cake with creamy frosting and topped with a small, decorative candy pumpkin. In the background, similar pieces of cake are blurred, placed on a light wooden surface.

Expert Tips

  • An offset spatula helps frost cakes and bars really easily.
  • I like to line my baking dish with foil or parchment paper for easy removal from the pan.

Storing Pumpkin Bars

  • Store bars in a single layer in an airtight container in the fridge (the frosting needs to be refrigerated).
  • You can freeze the plain bars and frosting separately and then frost before serving. Or you can put the completed bars in the freezer – just do it in a single layer so the frosting doesn’t transfer as they thaw.

FAQs

How to know when pumpkin bars are done?

These will lose their glossy sheen and be light golden around the edges. A toothpick will also come out clean from the center of the bars.

Can I use frozen pumpkin puree to make cookies or bars?

If you have leftover pumpkin that’s frozen, be sure to thaw it and drain any excess water so your bars aren’t to wet.

A close-up of a piece of pumpkin cake with creamy frosting and topped with a small, decorative candy pumpkin. In the background, similar pieces of cake are blurred, placed on a light wooden surface.

Pumpkin Bars Recipe

4.58 from 7 votes
These Pumpkin Bars are perfect for fall! They’re a pumpkin cookie baked as a bar and frosted with cream cheese frosting!

Recipe Video

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Cooling 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield 16 bars
Serving Size 1 bar
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Ingredients
 

For the bars:

  • ½ cup Challenge Unsalted Butter (113g), melted
  • ⅓ cup (81g) pumpkin puree
  • ¾ cup (150g) packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 ¾ cups (217g) all-purpose flour

For the frosting:

  • 8 ounces Challenge Cream Cheese (226g), softened
  • 4 tablespoons Challenge Unsalted Butter (56g), softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 ½ cups (396g) powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon (5ml) heavy whipping cream as needed for consistency
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Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13” pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Place melted butter, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a strand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (You can also use a hand mixer or a wooden spoon.) Mix until combined. Continue mixing and add the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add the baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice and mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly mix in flour until a smooth dough forms.
  • Press dough into prepared pan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until just browned around the edges and the teeniest bit jiggly in the center (these are better slightly under baked as they finish baking while they cool).
  • Make the frosting: beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and mix in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth. Slowly mix in cream until you get a spreadable consistency.
  • Frost the bars as desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze in a single layer for up to one month.

Recipe Notes

Only have Pumpkin Pie Spice? Use 2 teaspoons instead of the nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 338kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 158mg | Potassium: 58mg | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 1280IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 0.9mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Dorothy Kern

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Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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4.58 from 7 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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6 Comments

  2. I freeze pie pumpkins every year, it takes time and alot of work but there is nothing better than pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting all made from scratch in the dead of winter. My family loves them.

    Reply