Marbled Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares

I was at a friend’s house the other week and, honestly, I was feeling crummy. It was just one of those days where if I didn’t have kids, I would’ve staying in my PJs, watched Netflix, and eaten an entire sleeve of cookie dough after ordering Chinese delivery.

Alas, I have my three obligations, I mean, bundles of joy!

So, instead of ingesting 3,000 calories by myself, I took the boys to a very dear family friend’s house to watch an utterly abysmal game of football. I swear our friend must have known that something in my life wasn’t right. She not only offered advice and an ear to bend, but also some incredible pumpkin cream cheese squares.

Can you say heaven in a perfect dessert form? If there weren’t other people there as witnesses, I would have eaten the entire pan. No question about it.

They’re a perfect mix of pumpkin pie, cheesecake and chocolate. I mean, come on, what more could a girl ask for!?

I was lucky enough to not only get to help and snap some quick not very elegant photos while prepping, but to get the recipe too!

Marbled Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares

Ingredients for the Filling:
4 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg

Ingredients for the Batter:
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. flour
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate morsels (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375. Grease a 9×13 pan.

For the filling, whisk together cream cheese, sugar and egg until well blended; set aside.

For the batter, combine the pumpkin, sugar, egg, and oil; mix well. Stir in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ginger.

Pour into greased pan.

Drizzle cream cheese mixture over batter.

Cut through batter with knife several times for marbled effect.

Sprinkle with chocolate morsels, if desired (yes please!).

Bake 25-30 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool; cut into squares.

We let it go just a tad too long, but it was still moist and delicious! Only the top of it looked a little brown. It was so good I didn’t even get to get pictures of the squares once they were cut… they were all gone in a matter on a few minutes!

This is such a perfect recipe for any time of year, but especially for fall. It’s pretty easy and would be great to bring to a party (especially as we get into Thanksgiving party season)!