Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Since I had leftover pumpkin from making these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies, I decided to make Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars!

I love all things cheesecake, and these bars have flavors of fall mixed right in!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 c butter, softened
• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 c pumpkin puree
• 2 c flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 t salt
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened 
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 c pecans, chopped 

Directions:

• In a large bowl combine the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla on high speed. Mix in pumpkin. 
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. 
• Mix flour mixture into butter mixture. 
• Spread 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
• In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Drop spoonfuls on top of the pumpkin batter.
• Drop the remaining pumpkin batter on top of the spoonfuls of cream cheese, and swirl together with a knife.  
• Sprinkle pecans.
• Bake the bars for 35-40 minutes in a 9x13 parchment-line pan at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Cool completely before cutting into bars.

You can find the original recipe here on Sally's Baking Addiction.

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Golden OREO Cheesecake Bars

I love Golden OREOs.  They are my favorite kind of OREO!

It's dangerous when I have a package of Golden OREOs in the house - I could easily devour the entire thing.  Not in one sitting, of course, but I hardly ever have them in the house because I love them so much!

However, I recently gave in and bought a package, and to ensure I don't eat the entire package myself, I decided to make some Golden OREO Cheesecake Bars, which required the use of almost the entire package of OREOs!

I'm sure I could've used all of the OREOs, but I wanted to save a few just so I could indulge on later...

Two of my favorites combined - Golden OREOs and Cheesecake.  YUM!!

My family loved the bars!

Golden OREO Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients:

Crust:

• 20 Golden OREOs, crushed
• 2 T butter, melted

Cheesecake:

• 12 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 c sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 T sour cream
• 1½ t vanilla extract
• 10 OREOs, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Combine crushed OREOs and butter. 
• Press onto bottom of parchment-lined 8x8 baking pan. 
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
• Stir in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. 
• Fold 3/4 of the chopped OREOs, then pour the batter over the prepared crust.  Top with remaining chopped OREOs.
• Bake for approximately 40 to 50 minutes. 
• Let cool at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

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Recipes for National Blonde Brownie (Blondie) Day January 22

I love blondies (blonde brownies).  I think I even love them more than brownies!

In honor of National Blondie Day tomorrow, January 22, here are a few recipes to try (my personal fave is the Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Blondies).

Happy baking!

Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Blondies

Banana Blondies with Chocolate Chips

Golden OREO-Stuffed Blondies

Chocolate Chip Blondies

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Banana Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

Butterscotch Blondies

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Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars Recipe

Very Best Baking's Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars recipe is one that I've been making for years and years.

It's so easy, and the end result is a peanut-buttery, chocolatey delight!

I added a little more chocolate chips than the original recipe required - because you can never have too many!

And I love that this is a one-bowl recipe!  
Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars (recipe slightly adapted from Very Best Baking)

Ingredients:

• 1 c creamy peanut butter
• 6 T butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 c flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 c chocolate chips (divided)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350º F.
• Combine peanut butter and butter in a large bowl until smooth. 
• Beat in sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. 
• Mix in flour and salt.  
• Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.
• Spread batter into parchment-lined 9x13 inch baking pan.  
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.
• Sprinkle top with remaining chocolate chips and let stand for 5 minutes.
• Chocolate chips will be slightly melted.  Spread evenly.
• Cool and cut into squares.

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Golden OREO-Stuffed Blondies Recipe

I love Golden OREOs.  They are my favorite type of OREO.

So one day I figured stuffing Blondies with Golden OREOs would be just as good as stuffing brownies with regular OREOs

To make them, just take any Blondie Recipe (I used this recipe from the Food Network Kitchen), place OREOs in the middle of the batter, and bake.

YUM!

Golden OREO-Stuffed Blondies (recipe adapted from the Food Network Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 c unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t fine salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 20 Golden OREOs

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 
• Mix together the melted butter and brown sugar in a small bowl.
• In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Beat the eggs and vanilla into the sugar mixture. 
• Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir until a smooth.
• Spread half the batter in a prepared 9x13 prepared baking dish.
• Place Golden OREOs on top of the batter.
• Pour remaining batter over OREOs.
• Bake approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

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