No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
There’s no need to choose between pumpkin pie or cheesecake for a Thanksgiving dessert when you can enjoy these yummy pumpkin cheesecake bars. Not only will these bars serve more people than a pie or cheesecake alone, they’re no-bake simple and can be made days ahead of time to help free up your holiday schedule!
No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
13 oz. pkg. crispy ginger snaps
1/2 c. melted butter
1/4 c. light brown sugar
For the filling:
2 c. heavy cream, whipped and divided
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
15 oz. pumpkin purée
1 c. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
Preparation
Line a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with foil or parchment paper. Set aside.
To make crust: Using a food processor or manually, crush ginger snaps into a fine crumb. Add melted butter and sugar to crumbs and combine until mixture is smooth and uniform. If desired, reserve 1/2 c. ginger snap mixture for a garnish. Pour remainder of ginger snap mixture into prepared baking dish. With flat spatula or bottom of a drinking glass, press ginger snap mixture evenly across surface of pan to make a flat crust. Place baking dish in freezer for 10-15 minutes.
To make filling: use a stand mixer with whip attachment. Add heavy cream to bowl. Whip on high speed until firm, about 3-4 minutes. Separate whipped cream into two equal portions and refrigerate until ready to use. Add cream cheese to bowl. Beat cream cheese until very smooth. Add pumpkin purée, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue to beat filling mixture until completely smooth with no clumps. Scrape bowl and beat again if needed. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Add half of the whipped cream to cheesecake filling. Gently fold mixture with a spatula until completely smooth. Be careful not to over stir. Remove baking dish from freezer. Spoon pumpkin cheesecake filling into dish. Smooth filling over crust in an even layer. If you reserved ginger snap crumbs for garnish, sprinkle over the top as heavily or as lightly as you prefer. Cover baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, to create a firm filling. To speed up this process, you can freeze cheesecake bars for 1-2 hours, then move pan to refrigerator to soften filling for serving.
When ready to serve, cut cheesecake bars into squares. Top each square with a dollop of reserved whipped cream or pipe the whipped cream on if you prefer it to be more decorative. Sprinkle with additional pumpkin pie spice if desired.
**To make bars ahead of time, if tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, the pan of pumpkin cheesecake bars can be refrigerated for 4-5 days. To freeze for later use, wrap the pan in plastic wrap and then a layer of aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw pan in refrigerator overnight before serving.
