Description
I've turned one of my most beloved Pumpkin Cheesecakes into these easy to make Cheesecake Bars! Same great flavor, half the effort and stress of making a traditional cheesecake. The perfect make ahead dessert.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Gingersnap Crust
- 375 grams of crushed gingersnap cookies (about 2 3/4 cups of crumbs)
- 140 grams of unsalted butter, 10 Tablespoons, melted
Topping
- 85 grams unsalted butter, 6 tablespoons
- 115 grams chopped walnuts, 1 cup
- 200 grams brown sugar, 1 cup packed
- 45 grams flour, 1/3 cup
Cheesecake Filling
- 24 ounces of plain cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 4 whole large eggs
- 15 ounce can pure pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not filling - such as Libby's)
- 185 grams brown sugar, 3/4 cup firmly packed
- 60 ml heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup
- 70 ml maple syrup, 1/4 cup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger*
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
Equipment
- Food processor/hand or stand mixer
- 9x13 baking dish
- Parchment paper
Instructions
Gingersnap Crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Begin by placing your gingersnap cookies in the bowl of a food processor and pulsing until fine crumbles form. If you don't have a food processor, place cookies in a sealed ziplcok bag and begin crushing with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbles. Be sure your crumbles don't have any large chunks of cookie remaining.
- Melt your butter and combine with your gingersnap crumbs in a bowl until they are wet and sandy.
- Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by placing a sheet of parchment, ensuring it covers the sides - pro tip, if your parchment paper is rolling, crumble it up, open and then attempt to lay.
- Pour your gingersnap butter mixture into prepared pan and using a glass bottom, begin pressing down until you have an even layer all the way through your baking pan.
- Bake the crust for 9 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.
Topping
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt your butter. Add in your walnuts, brown sugar and flour. Mix to combine.
- Set aside until ready to use.
Cheesecake Filling
- Decrease oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
- In the bowl of your food processor (don't bother cleaning it from your crumbs) or hand/stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, combine your cheesecake ingredients.
- For best results, be sure cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature.
- Combine everything and process on high speed for 1-2 minutes.
- Stop, scrape sides and ensure everything is combined well. You want to ensure your cream cheese mixture is smooth and silky.
- Pour your cheesecake mixture into your cooled gingersnap crust and place in preheated oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove after 30 minutes and add your topping, bake for another 25-30 minutes until cheesecake is set. It will have a bit of movement but a skewer will come out clean when inserted.
- Remove and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Once fully cooled, cover and place in fridge for a minimum of 4 hours before slicing.
- Once ready to serve, cut into desired size squares, I prefer smaller cubes.
- Tip: when cutting, wipe your knife after each cut for clean cuts. Remove first piece (which may need a little wiggling) then proceed to remove the rest of your bars.
- Store in fridge up to a week or freeze, see notes in post.