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I’ll admit that I’m not normally a big fan of pumpkin pie. I can usually take it or leave it unless it’s homemade and really good. Does that make me a pumpkin pie snob? How do you feel about pumpkin pie?

My stance has now changed on pumpkin pie, well at least when it comes to these pumpkin pie bars. The pumpkin pie filling is lightly sweetened and full of spices. The shortbread crust is crisp, buttery, and pairs perfectly with the creamy pie filling. You can serve plain like I did or with some fresh whipped cream. Either would be delicious!

If you can believe it, I’ve never made a pumpkin pie. I’ve made pumpkin bread, pumpkin granola, pumpkin banana bread, and pumpkin cookies but for some reason pie has not been on my list. These will be in my regular holiday rotation now, once you try them you will feel the same way.

How to make pumpkin pie bars

These Pumpkin Pie Bars with Shortbread Crust are fairly easy to put together. No fancy ingredients needed and everything can be mixed by hand. A lot of pumpkin pie recipes call for evaporated milk, but this just uses regular milk.

When I first decided to attempt these, I knew I wanted to use the crust recipe from my Cranberry Cheesecake Pie. With a few tweaks, it’s the perfect base for these bars.

This shortbread crust is a simplified version of the original crust. Simply mix the dry ingredients together and then add melted butter. Press into a lined pan and par-bake.

The filling is adapted from One Mama’s Daily Drama and is just as simple as the crust. You are essentially just mixing everything together and pour in to the par-baked crust. Make sure you are using 100% pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.

I have only made this with canned pumpkin, you may be able to use homemade pumpkin puree but you may need to adjust the amount of liquid. I’ve also made this with 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 maple syrup, which was just as delicious. You could try with all maple syrup but I would suggest cutting back on the milk slightly.

This is a fairly thin pie filling, but it will bake up beautifully. You just have to trust it! These pie bars are best enjoyed once they have been chilled. I recommend chilling for at least 2 hours or overnight before cutting into bars.

Made this recipe? Be sure to comment below and rate the recipe. I’d love to hear what you thought about it!

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Pumpkin Pie Bars with Shortbread Crust

These Pumpkin Pie Bars with Shortbread Crust are an easier version of everyone's favorite holiday dessert. These are easy to whip up and will become a new holiday favorite.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword bars, holiday baking, pie, pumpkin

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Cooling and chilling 3 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings 16 bars

Author Amy’s Delicious Mess

Ingredients

Shortbread crust

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Pumpkin pie filling

• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 15 oz pure pumpkin puree, (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup 1% milk, or milk of your choice

Instructions

Make the crust

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9×9-inch non-stick baking pan with parchment paper. The parchment paper will make it easier to remove the bars later.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
• Add the melted butter and mix until combined and there are no longer any streaks of flour.
• Pour into the prepared pan and press the dough out evenly.
• Bake for 10 minutes and then allow to cool slightly.

Make the pumpkin pie filling

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
• Add the eggs and and whisk until combined. Then add the milk and whisk until incorporated.
• Add the pumpkin puree and whisk until smooth and completely incorporated. Tap your bowl on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.
• Pour the pumpkin mixture into the par-baked crust.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 425°F and then lower to temperature of 350°F and bake for an additional 20 minutes. The pie bars should be set on the outside but still have some jiggle in the center.
• Allow the pie bars to cool for an hour and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I prefer to make these the day before and allow the pie bars to chill over night.
• The bars should be sliced once they have had a chance to chill.

Notes

1. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own. 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, and 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg.
2. I’ve only tested this recipe with 1% milk but any type of milk or milk alternative  should work.
3. Pure pumpkin puree should be used, not pumpkin pie filling.
4. The pumpkin pie batter may seem a little thin, but it will bake up fine.
5. Pumpkin pie bars can last for 3-4 days in the fridge, or up to 2 months in the freezer.

 

The nutrition facts below are based on the recipe above.  This is only an estimation and intended for informational purposes only.

 

If you make any of my recipes, be sure to tag me on Instagram @amysdeliciousmess and use #amysdeliciousmess.  I’d love to see all of your pictures!

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It’s one of my favorite holiday pies to make. It may seem complicated to make, but it’s well worth the effort. Often I will make a few to bring to various Thanksgivings and it’s always a hit.

What are the different components of the recipe?

The original recipe for Cranberry Cheesecake Pie is from Bake or Break and I’ve adapted it to our tastes. The crust is more of a shortbread like crust than a traditional pie crust. What’s great about this crust is that you just pat it into the pan, so no rolling is required!

The cranberry sauce is tart and amazing, it’s great as a cranberry sauce recipe to serve for Thanksgiving! If you’ve never made your own cranberry sauce, then you should definitely give it a try.

It’s simple to make and I like knowing what’s going into my sauce. You can control the amount of sugar depending on your tastes. We like it a little more tart so I used a little less sugar.

I’m still loving all things cranberry orange, so of course I had to add orange zest and juice to the cranberry sauce. If you are a cranberry orange lover like me, don’t miss out on my Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake and Cranberry Orange White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies.

The cheesecake filling is light and slightly sweet, with a hint of orange. I really wanted to add more orange flavor so I threw some orange zest into the cheesecake mixture. If you prefer more of a classic cheesecake flavor, you could definitely leave it out.

Is there a dish or dessert that you always make during the holidays?

More dessert recipes to try

Easy Blueberry Galette

Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars

Gooey Browned Butter S’mores Bars

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies

Made this recipe? Be sure to comment below and rate the recipe. I’d love to hear what you thought about it!

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Cranberry Cheesecake Pie

This Cranberry Cheesecake Pie is perfect for the holidays. Lightly sweetened cheesecake is swirled with a tart homemade cranberry sauce in a shortbread like crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cheesecake, citrus, Cranberry, cream cheese, holiday baking, Orange

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Chilling time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 10 slices

Author Amy’s Delicious Mess

Ingredients

Cranberry sauce

• 8 oz (2 cups) fresh cranberries
• 4 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp orange zest, from 1/2 a small orange
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice, juice from 1/2 small orange
• 1/2 cup water

Crust and crumb topping

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

Cheesecake filling

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened (see notes)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp orange zest, from 1/2 a small orange
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the cranberry sauce

• In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add the cranberries, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and water. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
• Once boiling, reduce to medium-low heat and simmer until the cranberries are soft and have thickened slightly. This should take about 10 minutes. Sometimes I will smash the cranberries with the back of a spoon to help them break down.
• Set the pot aside to cool, the sauce will thicken as it starts to cool.

Make the crust

• You can start making this while the cranberry sauce is cooking.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Add the butter and using a pasty blender or fork, mix until crumbly and hold together when you squeeze it in your hand. You can also do this with your hands, which is my preferred method.
• Reserve 1/2 cup of the crust mixture for the topping. Pour the remaining mixture into a 9-inch pie or tart pan with a removeable bottom. (You can grease your tart pan if you are worried about it sticking.) Press the crust evenly into the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
• If you use a pan with a removeable bottom, I recommend baking on a baking sheet to catch any leaks.

Make the cheesecake filling

• While the crust is baking you can make the filling.
• In a large bowl, place the cream cheese, sugar, and orange zest. Stirring by hand or using an electric or hand held mixer, mix until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined and your mixture is smooth.
• Pour the cheesecake filling into the slightly cooled crust and spread out evenly.
• Drop spoonful's of the cranberry sauce over the cheesecake filling. Use a skewer or chop stick to slightly swirl the cranberry sauce with the cheesecake filling.
• Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture over the cheesecake.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cheesecake is set and the edges are golden brown. The cheesecake should still have a slight jiggle.
• Cool on a wire cooling rack before placing in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
• Any leftovers should be stored in the fridge, up to 5 days.

Notes

1. This can be made with both regular and low fat cream cheese, I’ve used both and have never noticed a difference.
2. I prefer to bake this the night before and serve the next day,
3. If you prefer, you can use lemon instead of orange.

 

The nutrition facts below are based on the recipe above.  This is only an estimation and intended for informational purposes only.

 

If you make any of my recipes, be sure to tag me on Instagram @amysdeliciousmess and use #amysdeliciousmess.  I’d love to see all of your pictures!

Don’t forget to sign up for my emails to get all of the latest and greatest recipes!

The post Cranberry Cheesecake Pie appeared first on Amy's Delicious Mess.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

I don’t know about you, but I usually like to have something sweet after dinner. Sometimes fruit will satisfy the craving, but other times I just need a little something else.

I generally try to have frozen fruit around for those times that I am craving something sweet and want to bake. We had some blueberries from last summer when we went blueberry picking and some frozen wild blueberries. The great thing about this recipe is that you can easily change it to your tastes or use whatever you have on hand.

Someone has been bugging me to use up some of the blueberries so that’s how this dessert was born! The hardest part of this blueberry lemon galette is making the dough, but if you made my baked turkey curry empanadas then you should already have some. You could also use store bought pie crust, but I highly recommend making your own.

Galette is such a fancy name for this, when in fact I think of it as a rustic free-form pie. I think that makes it sound a little less intimidating to regular bakers.

I usually sprinkle some kind of sugar on my galette crust. It gives the galette a better finish and will give it a little extra crunch. I prefer to use sugar in the raw on my crust, but I didn’t have any.  Sugar in the raw gives the crust a better crunch and just seems a little fancier to me!

This blueberry lemon galette would be great served warm with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It would also be great topped with whipped topping. I happen to love whipped topping and it also reminds me of my childhood.

What is your favorite kind of fruit to bake with? Also, let me know if you try this recipe with any other type fruit!

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Easy Blueberry Lemon Galette

So simple to assemble that you will want to make this impressive looking dessert all the time! Customize with any fruit that you like or what you have on hand.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword blueberry, lemon, pie, tart

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Chilling time 1 hour hour

Total Time 2 hours hours

Servings 6 slices

Author Amy

Ingredients

Pastry Dough

• 1 1/2 cups 15 oz All purpose flour, see note below
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 4.5 oz unsalted butter, chilled & cut into small cubes
• 4-5 tbsp cold water

Blueberry Filling

• 2 cups frozen blueberries, or fruit of your choice
• 1/8 cup granulated sugar, you can use more if you like your filling a little sweeter
• 1 small lemon, zest and juice (approx. 1 tbsp. juice)
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• egg yolk or egg wash, for brushing
• 1 tsp granulated sugar or sugar in the raw, to sprinkle on the crust

Instructions

Pastry Dough

• Mix flour and salt into a large bowl.
• Cut the chilled butter into the flour mixture until the butter is about pea sized.
• Add the water until it comes together. I like to add 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time so I don’t add too much water. The dough should just come together when you squeeze it in your hand. If there are little pieces at the bottom of your bowl, just gently knead it into the dough.
• Once the dough has come together wrap in plastic wrap to chill. Chill for at least 1 hour, up to two days.
• When your dough is done chilling, mix your filling together.

Blueberry Filling

• In a medium bowl mix the frozen blueberries, sugar, lemon zest and juice, and flour.

Assembly

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Roll out 1/2 of the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8"-1/4" circle. Mine was more of an oval shape but it didn't really matter. (See my note below on the dough).
• Place the rolled dough onto a piece of parchment paper and add blueberry filling into the middle of your circle.
• Starting on one side, fold up the edge and work your way around the circle folding so that the dough is over lapping.
• Move the parchment paper with the galette onto a baking sheet and brush with egg yolk or egg wash. Sprinkle the 1 tsp. of granulated sugar or sugar in the raw onto the egg washed crust.
• Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and juices have thickened.
• Cool at least 10-15 minutes before cutting, to allow time for the juices to set.

Notes

1. The pastry recipe listed above is 1/2 of my original pastry recipe from my baked turkey curry puffs.  You may not need all of the dough for the galette as I generally use whatever is leftover from that recipe.  I would recommend only using half of the dough, or you can make two galettes, or an extra large one.

The nutrition facts below assume you are using only half of the pasty recipe listed above.  This is only an estimation and intended for informational purposes only.

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I highly recommend this recipe. It’s pretty easy to make it just takes some time. I made everything in one day and it took me a few hours. If you want you can always make the crust ahead of time or even use a store bought one to save some time. When I made the first one I used the double crust recipe and just froze the other half to use for later. This saved me time for when I made it again.

Let stand for a few minutes and then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard and refrigerate until cold. The custard will keep for up to 3 days so you can make this ahead of time if you’d like.

When you are ready to assemble the pie, peel the bananas and cut them on a shallow diagonal into 1/4-inch thick slices. Arrange the slices on the bottom of your pie crust. It’s ok to stack them if you have extra slices.

This is the one that I made for my friends

Serve or refrigerate until needed. Enjoy!

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