Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Truth be told, I really didn't want to feature these on my blog at first.

I've seen these bars everywhere. Every other person who owns a food blog has already featured them. It's my goal to be innovative and creative with what I post, so that people can get fresh and exciting ideas/recipes from my blog. So I told myself that it was absolutely out of the question to give these a try. But every time I saw them featured, my mouth watered and I wanted so badly to try them...I really had to restrain myself. Many of my readers are huge foodies and frequent sites like Tastespotting, so I knew that this would be a "repeat" for them.

But remember last week when I wrote about being all up in a panic because my Pumpkin Pecan Pie was ugly? Well, during the several days when I struggled with my inner turmoil (of whether or not to post those ugly pictures), I decided to give this recipe a try. It would be my "back up pumpkin recipe," should my personality disorders triumph. (If this doesn't make any sense to you, read the Pumpkin Pecan entry. hehe)

And it really didn't help that I kept seeing them. They were sooo gorgeous and I was all up in a panic about pumpkin recipes, so I totally caved. Anyway, Hubby's a big chocoholic, so I wanted him to be able to try them.

They turned out really well! They were SO photogenic. And you know how much I love them pretty food pictures... =)


Whenever I bake anything chocolatey that calls for cocoa powder, I always use Ghirardelli. It's the best and it really brings out the flavor of your brownie/cake/whatever. You'll get a super deep and rich dark chocolate flavor. Good quality ingredients will make a huge difference in your end product.

First, make the brownie batter. mmmm...so chocolatey and delicious!


Spread it into your pan as the bottom layer. Reserve 1/3 of the batter.

Next, make the pumpkin cheesecake batter. Slowly pour it over the brownie batter in the pan.


Scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the cheesecake layer in small dollops throughout the pan.


Run a knife horizontally across the pan, in rows. Then run it vertically across the pan, in columns. Repeat to make more swirls.

Bake at 350 degrees, for 40 minutes. Refrigerate before serving.

I tried these when it was warm-ish, and then when it was completely chilled. Beantown Baker says that the flavor really comes through when it's chilled. But I preferred them when it was still gooey and warm. When we ate them the next day, we microwaved them. Soooooo yummy!

I cut them into tiny bit sized pieces, and put some poison toothpicks in them.

They're perfect for a Halloween party!

After I decided on featuring the Pumpkin Pecan Pie, I thought that I would just scrap this recipe and leave it out of the blog. But I really couldn't help myself because the brownies were so delicious and the pictures were so beautiful! Anyway, to those of you who have already seen this recipe featured, I apologize. But at least the pretty pictures provided a little bit of entertainment, right? =)



Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies
Click HERE for the recipe.