Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars

Each year at work, we have a Thanksgiving potluck the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving.  Over the four years I’ve been at my job, I’ve contributed an array of different things – from bottled water to ice to a side dish of some sort.  This year, I decided to go with dessert.  I’m keeping up the promise I made a few posts ago and am bringing the pumpkin back into the spotlight – this time with cheesecake in these pumpkin swirl cheesecake bars.

Pecans went on sale at Target last weekend, so I picked up a couple bags.  My dad (perpetually teeming with random facts) told me that the state of Texas (a pecan crop leader) is looking at a 15-year drought, so the price of pecans are expected to skyrocket in the near future.  I was sure to pick up a couple bags.  Thanks, dad.  I beat the pecans in their bag with a rolling pin a bunch of times to make sure they were in small pieces before measuring them out for the crust.

I doubled the recipe with the intent of making two 9″x9″ pans worth.  However, I started the baking process late on a weeknight and by the time I realized I didn’t own a second 9″x9″ pan, it was already almost 1am.  I wasn’t about to wait to use the same pan twice nor run out to buy another.  So, I threw everything in a 9″x13″ pan and crossed my fingers.  The crusted ended up being close to half an inch thick, and the cheesecake portion didn’t set with the 30 minutes it was in the oven.  I left it in for a bit more and tried to eyeball it, but about 15 minutes later, it sadly cracked a bit across the top in a few places.  Luckily, the cheesecake was still really creamy, so other than the appearance, it turned out fine.

I bought a box from a baking supply store and added a cute Lotta Jansdotter sticker label so that people in the buffet line would know what they were getting.  I definitely didn’t use a sharp enough knife to cut these because the edges didn’t come out so clean in square form.  Oopsies!

I’ll be making this again on Thursday for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner potluck.  The cheesecake part is soft enough for my grandpa to eat.  NOM!

P.S.  This is the first project I’ve used Lightroom with.  Thoughts?  I’m still figuring out how to use it, but I think I figured out the very basics!