These chocolate cheesecake bars are creamy, delicious and made in half of the time it takes to bake a full cheesecake! Perfect for potlucks and backyard bbq’s!
Usually most of the popular baking recipes can be made into some kind of 9×13 or 8×8 inch size. It just takes some adjusting. I’m happy for this because I personally prefer to have individual bite size pieces as opposed to a slice or wedge of something I’ve baked. It doesn’t help though when it’s something as delicious as these chocolate cheesecake bars, making it way too easy to grab more than one square! Maybe you’re not a chocolate fan? Try these New York style cheesecake bars or my speculoos cookie butter bars which are really similar to cheesecake.
Baking cheesecake can be stressful and requires a lot of time between baking and cooling the cheesecake. Uusually you’d let the cheesecake set overnight in the fridge so it could be sliced easily the next day. But you can skip all of that with these cheesecake bars. After you place them in the oven, you could be eating them a few hours later, not the next day!
Making your cheesecake bars
With only a few ingredients, this is an easy dessert to put together, but one that will have other people asking if you were in the kitchen all day! It’s a two-step process, with the first step making the cheesecake base. You’ll need some crushed Oreo cookies and melted butter. The mixture will become like sand and when transfered to the baking pan will become hard packed and baked for a short time. Use a flat bottomed glass or measuring cup to press down on the crushed crumbs to ceate an even flat base.
Tips for making your cheesecake bars
The second part of the recipe is making the filling, these tips will help you along this step.
- The cream cheese must be at room temperature or you’ll end up with tiny white specks throughout your cheesecake once baked.
- Don’t over beat the mixture after all of the ingredients have been added.
- Melt your chocolate in the microwave but only for short bursts at a time. After each melt time, mix the chocolate chips with a spoon or they will burn easily.
- The cheesecake bars will still look soft after they bake but they will firm up as they cool, especially if you place them in the fridge for an hour before scutting them into squares.
How long do they last?
They won’t last long because they’re so good, but if you have any left I recommend storing them in a sealed container and in the fridge. The chocolate cheesecake bars are best served at room temperature.
Serve with a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream or a dollop of fresh whipped vanilla cream for an extra special dessert!
Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
Equipment
- stand mixer
- hand held mixer
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups crushed Oreo cookies
- 5 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg white
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly butter an 8 x 8 baking tray and line with parchment paper leaving an overhang on two sides. This will make it easier to lift the cheesecake bars out of the pan to cut later.
- Combine the crushed cookies, melted butter and 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl and mix until it looks like sand.
- Transfer the cookie mixture to the prepared pan and spread out evenly making sure to pack the cookies down flat.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, sugar and flour until smooth.
- Add the egg and egg white and mix until well combined making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed just until everything is completely mixed together.
- Transfer the cheesecake batter to the pan and pour over the cooked cookie base spreading out evenly
- Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes then let cool before removing from the pan and cutting into squares.
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