Baker by Nature

A Baking Blog by Ashley Manila

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream! These are so flavorful and much easier than baking a whole pie. Perfect for Thanksgiving!

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream

Pumpkin Pie Bars with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Recently I felt inspired to try my hand at a fun little twist on pumpkin pie. I love the classic pumpkin pie as much as the next guy, but variety’s the very spice of life! And I like to shake things up once in awhile 😉

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream

If you’re a fan of rich, creamy pumpkin pie and are looking to pop it up a notch with some fun friends like brown butter, salty pretzels, and bourbon whipped cream, this is SO the recipe for you!

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream

Just be warned… sharing these sweet little squares is HARD! I highly suggest hiding 5 in the fridge before company comes over.

More Pumpkin Pie Recipes:

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream
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Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream

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Yield 24 Bars

Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Bars with Brown Butter Pretzel Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream! These are so flavorful and much easier than baking a whole pie. Perfect for Thanksgiving! 

Ingredients

For the Brown Butter Pretzel Crust:

  • 2 cups salted pretzels, pulsed into crumbs
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned

For the Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Filling:

  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned
  • 2 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • (1) 8 ounce package full-fat cream cheese, cut into cubes and at room temperature
  • (1) 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves

For the Bourbon Whipped Cream:

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar (plus more if a sweeter cream is desired)
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 2 Tablespoons kentucky bourbon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

For the Brown Butter Pretzel Crust:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
  2. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan, line it with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. In the body of a blender combine pretzels, cinnamon, salt, and sugar. Pulse until the pretzels have been completely smashed into tiny crumbs. Add vanilla and melted browned butter and stir well to combine.
  4. Press mixture evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Place on a cooling rack and set aside until needed. 

For the Silky Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Filling:

  1. Place butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium low heat - stirring occasionally - until it browns slightly and begins to smell nutty. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
  2. Place sugar in the body of a blender and pulse for 45-60 seconds, or until it's become powdery and white. Add cream cheese and beat for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed. Add pumpkin and pulse for another 30 seconds.
  3. Fold in the browned butter. Whisk in the eggs, yolk, vanilla, and spices, stirring until well combined.
  4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.
  5. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the edges are set and the center is only a little jiggly. It will firm up as it cools.
  6. Place the pan on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then chill in the fridge for at least one hour being slicing.
  7. When you're ready to serve, top each square with a dollop of whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon.

For the Bourbon Whipped Cream:

  1. Place the cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on high until stiff peaks begin to form.
  2. Add sugar, bourbon, orange zest, and vanilla, and beat for another 2 minutes. Dollop on top of pumpkin pie bars, or place in the refrigerator until needed. Keeps for 48 hours.

Courses Dessert

Cuisine American

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Comments

  2. Stacy | Wicked Good Kitchen says

    Beautiful pumpkin pie bars, girl! Love that you made them with a pretzel crust. Just completed another recipe using a pretzel crust (like my cheesecake dessert) to feature a cookbook review coming soon. Love your photography here, too! Pinned everywhere! xo

    Reply

  6. Becca @ Crumbs and Chaos says

    These are positively beautiful – I could definitely see hiding a few in the fridge as the best option for everyone 😉

    Reply

  33. Leslie says

    Thanks for this fantastic recipe! I’ve made it twice, both times a huge hit. I thought the filling was a bit too sweet, so the second time I reduced it to 1 2/3 cup, which worked well. And I don’t have a good blender, so I used a food processor for the crust and a mixer (with paddle attachment) for the filling. Also, both times my bars were done way before the suggested baking time (40 minutes and 32 minutes, in different ovens). So make sure to keep an eye on them. I used a cooking thermometer and took them out when the center was 150 degrees, the doneness temperature for cheesecake. I haven’t made the bourbon whipped cream yet, but I bet that would make them even more awesome.

    Reply

  35. Andrea says

    I made these last year and am looking at them again to make now that it is FALL. This was so good and I also made them in a pie pan and brought them as my dessert contribution to our family Thanksgiving. (really I just wanted to use my new pretty pie pan) Such a hit. Like…so…good!

    Reply

    • bakerbynature says

      Hi Andrea. Thank you so much for making my recipe and sharing it with your family! And thank you for letting us know how much you enjoyed these pumpkin pie bars! They’re one of my favorites too, but now I think I need to try baking them in a pie pan. Great idea!

      Reply

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