Pumpkin cottage cheese cheesecake bars
65 min · 12 g protein · 138 cals / serving
Pumpkin pie and cheesecake in one autumn bar: a thin, crisp graham crust under a smooth, warmly spiced pumpkin filling made with blended cottage cheese, cream cheese and a little brown sugar. Baked low and chilled until set, they cut into creamy, custardy squares that taste of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
Ingredients
- 4 full sheets graham crackers
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 1/2 cups cottage cheese (1%), 1 % milkfat
- 1/2 cup (4 oz) fat free cream cheese
- 1 cup canned pumpkin, pure pumpkin purée, not pie filling
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 tsp + 1 pinch stevia, pure stevia powder, or sweetener equal to 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
Steps
- Heat the oven to 350°F and line an 8 inch square pan with baking paper. Crush the graham crackers to fine crumbs, mix with the melted butter, press firmly into the pan and bake 8 minutes. Lower the oven to 325°F.
- Blend the cottage cheese and cream cheese for a full minute, until completely smooth. Add the pumpkin, eggs, egg white, brown sugar, stevia, spice, vanilla, cornstarch and salt and blend just until even; too much blending whips in air that cracks the top.
- Pour over the crust and bake 40–45 minutes, until the edges are set and puffed slightly and the centre still wobbles like jelly when you nudge the pan.
- Turn the oven off and leave the bars inside with the door ajar for 15 minutes, then cool on a rack. Chill at least 4 hours, until firm, and cut into 9 squares with a hot, wiped knife.
Good to know
Will it crack?
Baking low and cooling slowly in the oven keeps the top smooth. If a crack appears it tastes the same; a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt covers it.
Can I make it a day ahead?
It is better the next day: the spice mellows and the texture turns denser and creamier. Keep covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
No pumpkin pie spice?
Use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and a pinch of cloves.
Per
- Calories
- 119
- Protein
- (36%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (27%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (37%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 6 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 385 mg
More desserts
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1246 kcal goes into the pot and 1151 g of ingredients comes out as about 1050 g of food: 119 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.