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This post was originally published in October 2014. I’ve updated the pictures and tweaked the recipe slightly to be even better.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
Once upon a time I made a rich chocolatey brownie swirled with with a smooth pumpkin cheesecake and enjoyed one piece after another. Today, I’m eating a bowl of ramen noodles, sitting in my cold office, and staring at these long gone brownies wishfully. Just look at that dark chocolate and pumpkin cheesecake layer!
(I must be on a cheesecake kick this fall, my last recipe also involved pumpkin cheesecake. Oh, and a chocolate pumpkin kick too! Check out these cookies for fall!)
This is a standard brownie recipe with pumpkin mixed in for extra pumpkin layer. Then I swirled in a cheesecake layer. Half of that cheesecake layer is plain and half is pumpkin cheesecake. That makes the pretty two-toned effect.
The brownie is thick, dense and soft. Not too chewy thanks to the addition of pumpkin, but rich like a brownie should be. When I tweaked the recipe. I added an extra egg for more chewy brownie texture.
How to make pumpkin swirl brownies
Getting the pretty swirl on top isn’t too hard. I chose to use only about 3/4 of the pumpkin mixture and then regretted it because I wanted more cheesecake on top. Take your pick on how much cheesecake batter to use. Using less will probably make prettier swirls, but more will taste better.
I simply spoon the cheesecake mixture on top in strips and then take a butter knife or toothpick and run it through the batter to make a criss cross pattern. Then swirl it in a couple circles for good measure. Be careful not to over-swirl or it will turn into mud.
Let me know in the comments if you make this recipe. I think it would be perfect for a fall potluck or party, maybe even Thanksgiving dessert.
This pumpkin brownie recipe is loosely based on my Best Brownie Recipe in the world from scratch. If you’re looking for a great basic brownie recipe, be sure to check it out.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirled Brownies
Ingredients
For the Brownies
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup canned pumpkin not pumpkin pie filling
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup cocoa
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Cheesecake Swirl
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and four a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Beat together melted butter, sugar, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- To make the cheesecake filling, beat together cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl. Reserve about 2/3 of a cup of this mixture. This will be the white cheesecake swirl layer. Mix the pumpkin into the remaining cheesecake mixture. You will have to colors of cheesecake batter. Starting with the white batter, spoon the mixture onto the brownie batter in thin rows. Then do the same with the pumpkin cheesecake batter. Don’t worry if they touch or its not perfect. It’s art. Run a butter knife through the batter in a grid pattern to get the swirled look. Don’t over do it.
- Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before slicing. Makes 24 brownies.
Notes
Nutrition
Follow along on my pumpkin, cheesecake and chocolate craze with these other recipes!
Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream
Allie | Baking a Moment says
Those swirls are gorgeous! Love the halloween colors- so perfect!
Beth @ The First Year says
I love these cute little brownies, especially for halloween because they have all of those fun colors!
Jen @ Baked by an Introvert says
Pumpkin and chocolate are a great pair and the cheesecake just makes these 100x better. Pinning!
Mandy @Mandy's Recipe Box says
These look delicious, Mallory! And so pretty.
Amy @ A Healthy Life For Me says
Oh WOW, yummy. Pinning now!
genevieve @ gratitude & greens says
Yum! Saving them from when I’m feeling indulgent 😉
janelle says
Wow! Amazing shots and your dessert looks like a must have fall recipe.
heather @french press says
GORGE swirls! mine never seem to look that pretty
Aimee @ ShugarySweets says
These are quite possibly the most gorgeous brownies ever. The swirls are lovely 🙂
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
Love the cheesecake swirls! These brownies look amazing!
Christine @ A Sprinkle of This and That says
These brownie look so yummy! I love the swirls! Each bite must be pure bliss!
Amanda says
I love everything about these gorgeous brownies!
Sharana @ Living The Sweet Life Blog says
Yumm!! these are gorgeous
Kelly - Life Made Sweeter says
Pumpkin cheesecake and brownies sound like the best thing ever! I love the pretty swirls! They look gorgeous!
Lyndsay says
the bake time cannot be right. im already an additional 20 minutes passed 23 minutes and there nowhere near done.
Lyndsay says
their***
Dani says
Bake time is not correct…. mine habe been in for 40 min and center is not quite ready. I would say 40-45min.
Pauline says
I just made these and the cheesecake layer was super runny. Is the recipe missing *butter* in this layer?
Mallory says
No. Adding butter would make it more runny. How long was the bake time?
Cait says
Just finished baking for 20 minutes…. still completely runny in the middle. Also, your recipe does not state when to add in the pumpkin pie spice.
Mallory says
Just keep baking them till done. Ovens temperatures can be off and the type of baking pan you use can drastically affect baking times. Happy baking.
Amanda says
Something seems to be off. My “white” part was wicked runny. The bake time is definitely not correct and the recipe doesn’t say when to add the pumpkin pie spice-i added it to the pumpkin cream cheese. Possibly this recipe should be updated to not confuse someone who isn’t familiar with baking.
Ashley says
My cheese cake portion was super runny as well I added about 2 more oz of cream cheese and that seemed to do the trick! The 30 minute bake time was enough for mine but I’m at a high altitude so I’m not sure if that made a difference.
Maddy says
PLEASE NOTE:
Pumpkin Pie spice should be added into the pumpkin cheesecake portion. This is not stated in the instructions, but is a crucial step. Also, the bake time should be about 40-45 minutes rather than 20-23. Ovens will differ in bake times, but 20 minutes is far too short.
After following these extra tips, this recipe turned out amazing!
Mari says
Thanks for the tip Maddy. I will be making these today, hope they turn out well.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Max says
Hello, my wife and I waited until tonight to bake these brownies for Thanksgiving tomorrow and were terribly disappointed to find that the cream cheese had a curdled look and the bake time was completely wrong. I guess I’m a bit naive for not reading the comments of every recipe that I’ve found online but this seems to be in need of correction on the original posted recipe. We will not get any more recipes from this site.
Sierra says
I don’t usually leave reviews on blog recipes but all of the negative reviews I see here are before the update, so I wanted to add a review based on what’s currently written with the extra egg and longer bake time. I made these brownies tonight to share with my family, and it got mixed but mostly positive reviews. It is a very cakey brownie, not fudgey, but everyone has a different preference there so that’s not really negative. Everyone did agree it could use a stronger cheesecake flavor, maybe just add a ton more of the topping. 45 minutes cooked it through, but it wasn’t crispy the way I like brownies so maybe I should have left it longer even. Everyone liked them enough to eat more than one, and a couple people really loved these, so if you’re on the fence about making it I would say just go for it. It might not be the best tasting brownie I’ve ever had, but it’s one of the prettiest.
Sarah says
I debated on leaving a comment for this or not, but felt compelled to in hopes of saving someone else from spending money on the ingredients only to waste their time and to throw the brownies away. Nothing really seemed to add up with this recipe, the taste is not great, and the bake time (even when increased) is not nearly enough.. Unfortunately, I did not read all the comments before attempting to bake these for Thanksgiving today. Was looking forward to these since they look so great in the recipe images – big bummer!
garbo says
Wish I had read the comments before baking. These are so pretty, but following the directions I added the pumpkin pie spice to the cream cheese in the first step and it turned brown so there was no white stripe for me; I gave up on having 2 colors and just added the pumpkin into the bowl and had one color instead.