Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars {5 WW+ Dessert}

When Fall comes there is one thing I am most excited about. The return of canned pumpkin on the shelves! I start out small. Buying maybe 4 cans of pumpkin on my first spotting. Then I get a bit crazy. I need to stock up for the rest of the year. How can I not have 10 or so cans of pumpkin in my pantry by mid-October? And what do I use these cans and cans of pumpkin for? Healthier recipes!

Pumpkin is a great ingredient in baking, cooking and no-bake recipes such as this one. It's simple and easy to use and best of all... it's super tasty and healthy! Now I've already been making my pumpkin waffles, pumpkin muffins and even a pumpkin oatmeal shake. But I hadn't yet tried anything with pumpkin and cheesecake before. So this past weekend I decided to try out a no-bake recipe for pumpkin cheesecake bars. And they were delicious. If you have a can of pumpkin lying around you have to try it!

Inspiration: Kraft Foods

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

• 1 package (8 oz.) neufchatel cheese, softened*
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup agave nectar (or 1/2 cup sugar)
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Free whipped topping, thawed, divided
• 1 package graham crackers (about 24), crushed
• 4 tablespoons light butter, melted

Line an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish with plastic wrap. Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until the crumbs resemble moist sand. Push crumb mixture into dish with your fingers evenly to create a level crust on the bottom. Make sure to get the crumbs into the corners of the dish as well.

Beat cream cheese, pumpkin, agave and pumpkin pie spice with electric mixer on low speed for one minute. Increase speed to medium and mix for another 3 minutes or until no lumps are visible. Gently stir in 2-1/2 cups of the whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate remaining whipped topping for later use.

Spoon cream cheese mixture into crust and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Serve topped with remaining whipped topping. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

*How to Soften Cream Cheese
Place completely unwrapped package of cream cheese in microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 10 to 15 seconds or until slightly softened. If you cannot find neufchatel cheese in your grocery store just go for the reduced fat cream cheese. Same thing, different name.

Serves 16 | 5 WW+ Points

Pumpkin Puree

While out on our weekly shopping trip at Trader Joe's two weeks ago my son noticed the pumpkins they had everywhere and begged me to get one. So I, being the nice mommy I am, said of course! I threw in a pie pumpkin and let him hold it all the way from shopping to check out to the car. He had to place it on the seat when it came time to get his stickers but happily held it all the way home enjoying the "heby" pumpkin.

When we went to Trader Joe's the next week he insisted we buy another one. So of course I obliged and told him that we'd have to bake them up soon so we could make things with the pumpkin. He said "I hep" and I said of course. So I had to let him help me roast these up and puree them. And I'll also let him help when I start baking and cooking with the puree!

This is the exact same thing I did when I pureed pumpkin for him last year when he was eating purees and he LOVED it. You may want to strain it a bit more to get a smoother texture if your feeding it to a younger baby but the consistency of this puree was pretty smooth. 

Enjoy!

Source: Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food

Pumpkin Puree

• 2 sugar or pie pumpkins
• Lemon juice
• Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut both top and bottom of pumpkins off. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds and stringy guts. Place seeds aside if you want to bake them up for a healthy, yummy snack for later (or to use as a topping on many pumpkin goodies).

Place cut and cleaned pumpkins in a baking dish with the skin side down. Sprinkle the pumpkin flesh with a little lemon juice (or butter if you prefer). Bake for 30-45 minutes or until flesh is soft and a little golden brown on the tops (very little). I baked mine for 35 minutes.

Set aside and let cool. Once cool to the touch remove skin from flesh with either a peeler or a pairing knife. I find it easier to use a pairing knife. The cooked pumpkin's skin should come off easily. Dice flesh up into cubes.

Place cubed pumpkin into a food processor and pulse until smooth. You may have to add a little water to get things going. I added about 1/4-1/2 a cup depending on the batch and how many cubes were in the processor at once.

Once the pumpkin is very smooth place it in a mesh strainer over a bowl and let sit for about 30 minutes to an hour to remove excess water from the puree. Once this is done the puree is ready to use! You can use it to make pies, muffins, and other sweet or savory dishes.

My little helper making sure he was a part of the whole process...

Seeds of Love

After we gutted (or shall I say I gutted) our pie pumpkins we discarded the stringy mess and saved the yummy seeds. I knew this would be a great snack for me to munch on as we made our way to Halloween. You know, so I'd stay out of the candy :)

The seeds were yummy and just a little salt went a long way! I'm hoping to use some to top pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread if I get the chance to make it.

Source: Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food

Pumpkin Seeds

• Pumpkin seeds, cleaned and dried off
• salt to taste

Preheat oven to 325. Lay out pumpkin seeds in a single layer on an un-greased rimmed cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 25 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool.

Make sure you watch you little one or else they may try to come up and steal some while you aren't looking :) I caught my little guy doing exactly that...

Pumpkin at its Best

I'm always in search of fun changes to my go to pumpkin muffin recipe. I just knew that this one would be a hit since it came from the Smitten Kitchen. I've loved most everything I've made from her website. Super delicious!

So I started in on making these and for some reason had it in my head that the recipe called for 4 eggs. Nope... just two! I wondered why I had so much batter and why it was thinner than most pumpkin batters I've worked with in the past. I already had the cupcakes in the oven before reading over the ingredients again and realizing my mistake. Oh well!

With just an hour of time left to finish and frost the cupcakes I had no choice but to suck it up and hope that they were good. I was lucky and had a few taste testers on hand to test out the cupcakes before I took them to the party I was going to. My BILs, SIL and nephew all loved them so I thought they were good enough to take. And boy was I right! These were delicious! And even better when left in the fridge overnight and eaten for breakfast the next morning with a hot cup of coffee ;)

Source: Smitten Kitchen (with a few adaptations)

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Maple–Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing pans (unless using liners)
• 1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs (I accidentally added 2 more!)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

Frosting

• Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (I added)

 Preheat the oven to 350° (175°C). Line a cupcake pan with 18 liners.

Cupcakes:
In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.

Add the eggs 1 at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. Rap the filled pans once on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

Frosting:
In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy but firm. Frost the cupcakes using either a spatula or a pastry bag w/ a large tip. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 30 minutes to set up frosting.

Pumpkin Perfection

This past Sunday Joseph, the baby and I went to the pumpkin patch. And I had one thing on my mind... bringing home some sugar pumpkins! No carving pumpkins for me. I want ones I can eat. So we went, took lots of pictures of the little one playing with the pumpkins and picked out all kinds of wonderful squash and pumpkins.

This was my first time baking and pureeing a pumpkin but I think I did pretty well. It was soo easy. I now wonder why I never tried this before. This will definitely be the way I do pumpkin in the future.

Source: Adapted from BakeSpace and My Head



Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ cups applesauce
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

Combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, applesauce, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Maple Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup maple
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Whip all ingredients until soft peaks form. You can either use the frosting right away or refrigerate it a bit to let it stiffen.

* Once you frost the muffins you can top with a few chopped pumpkin seeds for a little extra something.

Waffle Mania

I love waffles. Have I ever mentioned that? I am sure I haven't. It's just so easy to whip up a fresh batch of batter and cook them on the waffle iron. And if you love waffles like I do, you might appreciate this recipe a bit more. I've had it for a while. I became a fan of these last December right after I first joined Weight Watchers. I ate these as a dessert sometimes covered in 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip lite. What kind of waffle, might you ask, would serve as dessert too? Pumpkin waffles! Perfect for the fall or winter and super tasty and fun.

Since I don't currently have an oven or stove I decided that I needed something warm for breakfast. Than Joseph asked me to get some bagels from Einstein Bagels. How could I resist a husband who's working so hard to give me the kitchen of my dreams? So I set aside my craving of waffles and went to go get breakfast.

As soon as I got home I was absorbed in finishing Midnight Sun and 12:30 rolled by quickly. Joseph asked what was for lunch. Waffles immediately popped into my head but I knew he wouldn't want any. So I grabbed him a pot pie from the freezer and set out to hunt down the ingredients for the recipe and my waffle iron. I set up shop in the garage and started cooking. Boy were these good!

Source: Weight Watchers



Pumpkin Waffles

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (I used 2% due to a lack of buttermilk and lemon juice)

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and next four ingredients into a large bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Combine egg, brown sugar, oil, pumpkin & milk in a bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray; preheat. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter per waffle onto hot waffle iron, spread batter to edges. Cook 5-7 minutes or until steaming stops; repeat with remaining batter.

5 servings, 2 waffles per serving
4 points per serving