Pumpkin Pie Bars

I had the sweet pleasure of having lunch and baking with my lovely friend Brenda yesterday! She is an amazing woman of God, and I am always so encouraged by her devotion to serving God through serving others. I am so glad that I have her with me in dental school because I'm not sure what I would do without her! Anyways, here's what we made! 

Me in my new apron from Ner! <3 td="">

Hard at work!

Find my Matcha Green Tea Shortbread recipe if you wanna learn how to make these! 

INGREDIENTS

For the crust/topping:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
12 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup chopped pecans/peanuts

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
White Chocolate chips, for topping

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 7×11-inch (you can also do 9x13) baking pan with foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Lightly grease the foil. Combine the flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a small mixing bowl and toss with a fork. Add the pieces of butter to the dry ingredients and cut it in with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the oats and chopped nuts.

Reserve 1 cup of the crust mixture and set aside. Add the remaining crust mixture to the prepared baking pan and press onto the bottom of the pan in an even layer. Bake the crust alone in the oven for 15 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling.

To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth and well combined.

Once the crust has been removed from the oven, pour the filling into the pan and smooth over the crust. Sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture and white chocolate chips, as desired. Bake for 35-40 minutes (if using 9x13 bake for 25 min) remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve.

Adapted from: Annie's Eats