Made using a delicious graham cracker crust, these pumpkin pie bars are creamy, decadent, and satisfying. Just like a regular pumpkin pie, only way more convenient to eat and even easier to make from scratch!
Why not learn all about how to make a Graham Cracker Crust? Or make a Traditional Pumpkin Pie Recipe instead?
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Pumpkin pie is the most popular dessert in the holiday season for a good reason; it is autumnal, sweet and filling, and manages to make the whole meal feel like a childhood memory, even if you didn’t grow up eating pumpkin pies.
This recipe uses a tried and tested recipe for pumpkin pie but turns it into a convenient, handheld pumpkin pie bar covered in a crumbly and delicious graham cracker crust.
What else is there to say? It’s pumpkin pie, only better.
Pumpkin Pie Bars Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.
Crust
• Finely ground graham cracker crumbs
• White sugar
• Salted butter
• Ground cinnamon
Filling
• Canned pumpkin
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Eggs
• Firmly packed light brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Ground cinnamon
• Salt
• Ground ginger
• Ground nutmeg
• Ground cloves
How To Make Pumpkin Pie Bars
• Preheat your oven to 350 F
In a medium bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon until well blended
• The mixture will resemble coarse sand, and the butter should be mixed throughout completely
• Press the mixture into a 9×13 pan to form a crust
• Pre-bake the crust in the oven for 7 minutes while preparing the filling, and then remove from the oven while leaving the oven on
• Combine filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and then beat it at medium speed for 2 minutes
• Pour into the 9×13 over the pre-baked crust and then place in the oven
• Bake for 45 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit, or until the center does not jiggle when shaken
• Cool on a wire rack and then refrigerate for an hour, remove from the pan, and slice into bars
Why Make Pumpkin Pie Bars Instead Of Just Pumpkin Pie?
Smart readers might realize that this recipe is basically just a slightly denser recipe for a normal pumpkin pie, albeit with a crust made from graham crackers rather than regular pie crust.
Considering this is so similar, why not just make a pumpkin pie and eat it like a regular Thanksgiving dessert?
Well, the big advantage of pumpkin pie bars is that they can be easily sliced and eaten by a crowd, making them the perfect holiday party food.
Plus, you can slice it even smaller for bite-sized bars!
How To Perfectly Cut The Pumpkin Pie Bars Into Slices
After cooking and cooling the whole thing, you need to carefully slice the bars into perfect little rectangles. However, how do you do this without the knife getting all gummy and the slices turning out misaligned?
The easiest way to cut the bars into a consistent, easy shape is to map where you are going to cut beforehand. Either doing it by eye or using a ruler for extra precision, make really shallow cuts onto the surface of the pumpkin pie bars in the pattern of where you want to cut them.
Start with the halfway line, and then cut them into halves again and again until you reach the smallest size you are looking for.
To stop the filling from sticking to the knife as you cut it, make sure that the pumpkin pie itself is super cold; the colder the feeling is, the less likely it is going to stick to the knife.
If you are still struggling with sticking, run the knife you use to cut the pie under really hot water for a few seconds, and then dry it off with a kitchen towel. The heat will paradoxically keep the filling from sticking, just so long as you make sure to get the knife really dry before cutting into it.
Looking for more delicious Pie recipes? Try these out:
• Libby’s® Famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe
• Flapper Pie- The Lost Prairie Pie
Enjoy!
Love,
Karlynn
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Pumpkin Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup salted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
Filling
- 1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin
- 1 3/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line with parchment paper 9×13 pan ensuring it hangs over the edges of the pan for easy removal.
- In a medium bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until well blended . The mixture will resemble a coarse sand, and the butter should be mixed throughout completely.
- Press the mixture into a the 9×13 pan to form a crust.
- Pre-bake the crust in the oven for 7-8 minutes while preparing the filling then remove from the oven, leaving the oven on.
- Combine filling ingredients in large mixing bowl then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Pour into 9×13 over the pre-baked crust and place in the oven.
- Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the center does not jiggle. Remove and place on wire rack to cool completely.
- Refrigerate for an hour so it sets, then slice into bars and serve.
Notes
- This is also great topped with vanilla ice cream!
M Thomas says
WOW! I rarely ever leave a review but these were amazing! Super easy to make and so good. I’m considering buying a pumpkin pie for my family and keeping these for myself. I let them cook and then refrigerated the entire pan for a couple hours before slicing into squares.
Joanne says
Recipe looks great but am unsure size of canned pumpkin so this stopped me from doing
Max says
has anyone ever tried freezing or keeping these in the fridge ahead of time, say a day or two?
Gwen says
These are soooo good! I’m pretty sure my family prefers this over traditional pumpkin pie now. I’ve never been a fan of pumpkin pie, but I love these pumpkin bars. I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you!
goody says
there was a small mistake in your method ‘prebake, then remove oven while oven is on?
goody says
there was a small mistake in your method, prebake, then remove oven while oven is on?
Sharen says
Karlynn – I would like to use fresh pumpkin (Baked, pureed &strained) would I need to use more than the 1 3/4 cups can pumpkin called for in the recipe?