Spooky Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

recipe slightly adapted from myrecipes.com

Go ahead and laugh. It's ok. I had a typical "me" moment the other day while making these. Short on time, I went to decorate these before work and realized I had bought regular sized chocolate chips instead of minis. The result is quite silly looking! I am still chuckling now looking at them.

Despite my googly eyed ghosts, these pumpkin cheesecake bars are absolutely amazing. Like lick the fork and maybe even your plate amazing. Creamy pumpkin with an oreo crust and topped with cool whip. Everyone who tried them loved them.

Ingredients for crust:

20 creme filled sandwich cookies

2 1/2 TBLS. unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for filling:

2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin pie filling

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 TBLS. all purpose flour

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 9 inch square pan with foil so that it overhangs on the sides. Mist with cooking spray.

To make the crust: process the cookies in a food processor until ground. Pulse in butter. Press evenly into the pan. Bake until firm, 10 - 12 minutes. Cool slightly.

To make the filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in   pumpkin.Then eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla, flour, spice and salt until just combined.

Pour mixture over the slightly cooled crust. Put the pan in a large rimmed baking sheet and put in the oven. Pour hot water into the larger baking sheet until it's nearly filled. (This will prevent your cheesecake from cracking) Bake cheesecake until set around the edges but jiggles slightly in the center, about 40 - 45 minutes. Remove pan from sheet and cool completely on a wire rack. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm. At least 3 hours.

To make ghosts, pipe whipped cream onto bars in a circular motion. Use MINI chocolate chips for eyes.