I bought a jar of pumpkin butter at Trader Joes to use for one of the cupcake tests. The test only required a tiny bit of it, so I was left with almost a whole jar to use in something pumpkiny.
There are so many pumpkin recipes floating around these days & I went round and round trying to decide which one to do. Cookies? Cheesecake? Brownies with a layer of Pumpkin Cheesecake? Pumpkin Cheesecake? Pumpkin Cake? In the end, I chose Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies and resisted an urge to add a chocolate twist to it. Maybe next time!
The recipe was low maintenance, the pumpkin cake soft & light & the cream cheese swirl-- for some reason, I can't get the hang of swirling cheesecake batter into brownies. I tend to massacre it into a homogoneous mess. My swirling was better this time, but it still needs some work.
Recipe was adapted from Southern Food. In addition to subbing pumpkin butter for pumpkin puree, I decreased the amount of brown sugar to 3/4 C and used a parchment liner with overhang.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
6 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 C light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 C pumpkin butter (or pumpkin puree)
1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 C confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flour
Heat oven to 350°. Coat an 11x7" pan with cooking spray and line with parchment overhang.
In a large mixing bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar, and 2 eggs until light and creamy. Beat in pumpkin butter (or puree). In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. Slowly beat into pumpkin mixture until well blended. Spread in prepared pan.
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 egg, confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 tablespoons flour. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Spoon onto pumpkin batter. Using a small narrow spatula or butter knife, swirl the cream cheese batter into the pumpkin batter.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
