Pumpkin cheesecake bars in jars
I don’t bake desserts very often anymore, as you might have noticed by my posts. With just two to feed, it’s dangerous to make a whole pie, or an entire batch of cookies or brownies, or — my sweet-tooth-will-power downfall — a full size cake. Even when a recipe is easy to divide in half, I usually lack the smaller pan to bake it up. And even when a recipe is easy to divide in half, ingredient-wise, the effort is the same (e.g., dividing eggs, whipping up egg whites, folding in this, that, and the other thing). All-in-all, fudging small batches of full-sized yummies is more aggravation than they’re worth.
That’s why I fell in love with desserts in jars: piecemeal assembly and baking in individual containers means they’re small-batch friendly.
Plus, they’re just so dang cute. Meet pumpkin cheesecake bars … in a jar.
I’m also going through an odd phase where I just don’t want to fire up machine after machine to make desserts. The food processor is a godsend for mixing up the chocolate graham cracker pecan crust — make no mistake about that — but I love that the pumpkin cheesecake portion of the recipe can be pulled together by hand with a bowl and a whisk.
These adorable little 7 ounce Weck jars make the perfect portions for these pumpkin cheesecake bars. And so another thing I love about desserts in jars: it curbs the temptation to cut yourself a larger slice, and it seems almost piggy to eat two in one sitting.
Oh! And if you’d like a quick tutorial on DIYing fresh and oh-so-easy homemade pumpkin puree, check out my article on Honest Cooking.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Karen xo
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Hello, and welcome to SoupAddict, my little corner of the foodie world on the Interwebs. I'm Karen, and it's true, I'm addicted to soup. The seasons guide my cooking and eating, and when I'm not behind the stove — or the keyboard: I'm a writer by trade — you can find me in my vegetable garden. 
Those jars are so cute, and of course look delicious! I definitely can relate to only cooking for two, and the dessert conundrum that poses. I have half a pumpkin pie sitting in my fridge right now. Sitting there. Calling my name. Begging to be eaten. Yeah, it’s a problem.
Much of the time, I send the leftovers with my husband to work and his coworkers will demolish whatever I’ve sent. That’s my portion control.
Julie recently blogged about: Green Bean Casserole
“Julie! Oh, Juuulliieee!”
I just like saying the recipe title over and over again. Makes me giggle!
I’ve frozen half Bundt cakes but I hear ya-something in a jar I couldn’t bring myself to have an entire second jar. I like this idea!
Thanks!
kirsten recently blogged about: Shepherd’s Pie–Thanksgiving Leftover Remake
My freezer is completely stuffed full of summer fruit & veggie goodies – no room for frozen desserts (of course, I’m not sure a larger freezer would solve my will-power problem … the fact that the cake is frozen is, sadly, not a deterrent.
)
Tried these out for dessert last night – big hit
Thank you!
Cher recently blogged about: Really? (TWD BwJ: Best Ever Brownies)