Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Crumb Topping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, and butter. Beat until mixture is crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture, and set it aside. Press the remaining mixture into a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

While the crust is baking, mix together the cream cheese, pumpkin pie filling, sugar, egg, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Beat until well blended and smooth. Spread filling over hot crust then top with the remaining crumb mixture. Return to oven and bake 25 minutes.

Cool and cut into bars. You can make this a couple days ahead of time, but keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

If you want to get wild and crazy, drizzle the tops of the bars with caramel or chocolate sauce, or both. Also, try serving bars with Dulce de Leche ice cream. See if that doesn’t make you melt in a puddle.

Note: If you like nuts, you can add 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans to the crust mixture. You could also put toasted pecan halves on top of each bar before you drizzle with caramel.