The layers on these Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars are incredible! One tasty bite and you’ll fall in love! From the graham cracker crust, to the sweet cheesecake filling and the pecan pie topping, this holiday dessert receives rave reviews from everyone!
We’re big fans of pecan pie in these parts. From pecan pie truffles to a sweet pecan pie bundt cake, there’s something for everyone to love!
The Perfect Thanksgiving Dessert
Combining the sticky sweetness of Pecan Pie with soft and creamy Cheesecake Bars was guaranteed to be delicious but even so, I was blown away by how perfect these bars turned out.
If you have a lot of guests at your Thanksgiving dinner, you’ll especially love the convenience of serving cheesecake bars over a traditionally shaped pecan pie.
- You can slice them in advance so everyone can easily grab one off the dessert buffet. No need to spend time cutting and distributing pie slices to everyone one at a time.
- I love that they deliver all the familiar goodness of a slice of pecan pie with the unexpected twist of a rich cheesecake base.
- This is the best Thanksgiving dessert to make if you want to put a little twist on tradition this year!
If you love a delicious dessert mashup, you’ll have to try our pecan pie brownies next! Or give our fudgy chocolate pecan pie recipe a try next.
Ingredient Notes
- Graham crackers – Original honey or cinnamon flavor
- Corn Syrup – Make sure to use LIGHT corn syrup.
- Cream cheese – Let it soften at room temperature for a few minutes before using it in the recipe.
- Pecans – I used pecan halves that I chopped into small pieces before making the topping. Toast the pecans to bring out more nutty flavor.
Step by Step Instructions
STEP 1. Graham cracker crust
Pulverize the graham crackers with sugar in a food processor to form crumbs, then pulse in melted butter. Press the crust mixture into a prepared greased baking dish.
STEP 2. Cheesecake filling
Beat the cream cheese with eggs, vanilla and sugar until fluffy, then pour it over the graham cracker crust.
STEP 3. Pecan layer
Bring the corn syrup, butter, heavy cream and salt to a boil. Let the mixture boil for one minute, then remove it from heat before adding the vanilla extract and pecan pieces.
Use a spoon to pour the pecan layer over the cheesecake.
STEP 4. Bake
Bake the bars for 35 minutes, remove and let them cool completely in the pan. Then, cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil and chill the bars for at least 4 hours (or up to overnight).
Slice, serve and enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
- Use an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment to beat the cheesecake ingredients. The mixer helps get the filling fluffy, smooth and creamy in just a few minutes.
- When adding the pecan layer to the cheesecake, pour slowly using a spoon to prevent the nut mixture from sinking to the bottom!
- Store these bars in an airtight container in the fridge. They taste great cold!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can either buy the graham cracker crumbs ready made OR make your own by placing the graham crackers in a ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.
Make sure to line your baking dish with parchment paper before putting the graham cracker crust in the pan. You can also spray the parchment paper with baking spray to help prevent the crust from sticking.
Sure can. They’ll hold up beautifully in the freezer stored in freezer bags. Defrost at room temperature or in the fridge overnight.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
- Pecan Pie Cake: a sweet layer cake with a pecan pie filling and brown sugar frosting!
- Butterscotch Pecan Sandies: little bites of heaven. My favorite cookie to give for the holidays!
- No Bake Cheesecake
- Pecan Pie Bars
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- No Bake Cheesecake Bars
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Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs about 18 full size grahams
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
For the cheesecake layer:
- 2 packages cream cheese, softened 8 ounce each
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the pecan pie layer:
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
- Line a 13×9 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a food processor, pulse graham crackers with sugar until fine crumbs. Add in melted butter and pulse until combined. Press into bottom of baking dish, firmly, using the palm of your hand (or bottom of a cup). Set aside.
- For the cheesecake filling, beat cream cheese with sugar, eggs, and vanilla using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer. Beat until fluffy and smooth (about 3-5 minutes). Pour over graham crust. Set aside.
- For the pecan pie layer, heat brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, butter and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, boil for 1 full minute. Remove from heat and add in vanilla and chopped pecans. Allow to cool slightly then pour slowly over cheesecake layer, using a spoon to pour it over so it doesn't sink to the bottom.
- Bake bars in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Graham Cracker Crumbs– you can either buy the graham cracker crumbs ready made OR make your own by placing the graham crackers in a ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.
- Why are my bars sticking to the pan? Make sure to line your baking dish with parchment paper before putting the graham cracker crust in the pan. You can also spray the parchment paper with baking spray to help prevent the crust from sticking.
- Freezer friendly– They’ll hold up beautifully in the freezer stored in freezer bags. Defrost at room temperature or in the fridge overnight.
Nutrition
The best cheesecake bar for pecan lovers! Why choose between Pecan Pie and Cheesecake when you can have BOTH this Thanksgiving?
Hi just finished making this and took it out of the oven now looks great and can`t wait for my family to try. Usually I make all my recipes Vegan even changing them if they aren`t Vegan but this one I left it as is since I had some regular cream cheese to use up in the fridge so its Vegetarian good enough for this time. I am grateful to see the nutritional value on here since I count carbohydrates even if it might not be exact since I am a Type 1 diabetic but maybe to be on the safe side ill only have one fork to try this time around .Hope once it cools and I will cut it up tomorrow only that it works out and the squares are formed properly like the photo on here. Thanks for sharing.
Mine are in the oven and I’m just now reading about parchment paper. Wish it had been in the instructions 😢
In step one is says to line baking dish with parchment paper 🙂
This is amazing!!!!!!! I make it as a pie. However, I had some left over so I used it to make cupcakes. Yes, that’s right. I put the cupcake papers inside a metal cupcake pan, then packed in the gram layer in cupcake papers, then poured the cheesecake and then…..get this….put the top layer only in the centre of the cupcake and it sunk to the bottom……so when you bite into it thinking it’s just cheesecake…..BAM!!!!!! Pecan gooey goodness!!!!! It was a giant success and everyone was obsessed with them.
This is in my top three favourite recipes! So good!
I followed instructions to the letter but my ‘bars’ came out as scoops instead. I used parchment paper as suggested but it didn’t help. Yes they came out of my pan really easily but didn’t cut wort anything. Like a previous emailer said, ‘mine are scoops’ too. I’ve though of warming some of it up and pouring it onto ice cream. Sounds good to me. Sorry, but my experience was a bust.
Did you cool the bars and chill for at least 4 hours? So odd that it didn’t work.
How do I know if bars are done?
Do you think a “pie” version would work using a Graham Cracker crust?
How long should the pecan topping cool before pouring over cheesecake?
I waited about 20-30 minutes. Wasn’t entirely cool by any means, but was cool enough that it didn’t melt through the cheesecake and sink down. Came out beautiful!
Thanks for the tip about using parchment paper in the pan. Worked like a charm! Loved these.
Do you need to line sides or just bottom of pan with parchment Tx
This was a reply to Caitlin, actually.
Question showed up under review. Sorry
Let us know when you figure out a substitute for the staple ingredient in pecan pie!
What can I substitute the corn syrup with? I dont have any.
I just made this today and it came out PERFECT!!!! I was so nervous because I’m not a baker but I can follow a recipe haha! And it came out awesome! I followed this exactly as you specified and it’s a hit! Thanks so much!!
So glad you like it, it’s one of my favorite cheesecake bars!
I have whole pecans would I toast them in oven first?
On the pecan pie cheesecake bars why do I need the parchment paper
I love the recipe for the pecan cheesecake bars, but could you find a way to help those who are diabetic to be able to enjoy this also
So I spooned the pecan topping and some of it still disappeared. Will that be a problem?
Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars were the hit of our Thanksgiving dinner! My grandson even asked for the recipe, the highest of compliments. Your creation is now a part of our traditions. Thanks so much!
Love to hear this, thanks!!!
how do I know when the bars are ready to come out of the oven. since ovens all bake differently
This recipe is awesome! The bars are so delicious! I make them every Thanksgiving! Everyone loves them 😊
Thank you for this delicious recipe! This was the first time I made a dessert that was not cookies or a snack cake. I followed your directions almost entirely (I missed the part about chopping the pecans). It came out perfect!
Follow up — I was able to get bars out, phew…. just could not salvage one side of each pan, just a few. Lesson learned — line bottom and sides. Bars are delicious!!!
I used the glass baking dish (Pyrex), lined with parchment and sprayed with non-stick spray. The crust is stuck to the bottom, so can only scoop the cheesecake/pecan pie mixture. The mixture (sorry, can’t call it bars, as they are scoops) tastes yummy but presentation is awful…. 🙁
Any ideas on how I managed to mess this up? I made two batches and planned to take one to potluck but now have to find something else to bring, as this stuff is too messy.
If I try again, I think I will use the springform pan and line it with foil, as suggested above. Then at least I can try to peel the foil instead of scraping stuff out… 🙁 Or maybe line both sides and bottom with foil, to allow flipping over and peeling. Anyway, sounds from comments that I am not the only one who struggled, so please update the recipe.
Me too! It looked awful but tasted great. Everytime I tried to cut it the top would crack and the layers came apart. I’ve read the recipe over and over and can’t figure out where I went wrong. Thankfully, I just made it for our immediate family Thanksgiving so we just used spoons.
I’ll be making these but will also do a pie. Some of my guests don’t eat nuts, likely because of false teeth, so I have to accommodate all.
When my kids were young, I put up some decorations, however, Santa Claus ALWAYS brought the decorated tree. Putting tinsel on the tree one strand at a time made a beautiful sigh5, but also a very tired mommy!