Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Who doesn't love cookie dough and cheesecake? I always used to sneak a little bit of the dough when me and my mom were making chocolate chip cookies together when I was a kid. I used to get cookie dough on my ice cream all the time. Let's just say, I love me some chocolate cookie dough. 

I wanted to make more than one kind of cheesecake bars for Thanksgiving this year and when I saw this recipe I about fell on the floor. I knew I had to try it.

Here Is What You Need: 

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

5 Tsp unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Chip Cooke Dough:

5 Tsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

3 Tsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:

10 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Line a 8" square baking pan with parchment paper allowing for a little overhang and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside

Mix melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan into an even layer. Bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes. Remove pan to cooling rack but make sure you leave the oven on. 

While the crust is cooling, prepare the cookie dough. In a bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla until smooth and thoroughly combined. Mix in the flour on low speed and mix until incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips. (this mixture will be dry, it is more like a crumble topping)

In a bowl cream together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla on low speed just until incorporated. Pour the filling into the prepared crust, smoothing out to edges. Use your hands to crumble the dough topping in teaspoon size clumps onto the top the filling. Be sure to use all of the dough.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top feels dry and firm (cookie dough) and the entire pan looks set when given a gentle shake. Move bars to a cooling rack. Let cool for an hour then place in refrigerator to cool for a couple hours or overnight to finish setting. 

Once set, remove from pan using edges of parchment paper onto counter. Cut into bars and enjoy!

I doubled the recipe and did in a 9x13 pan and was able to cut into small squares and got about 24 out of it. 

These bars are so good. One of my managers at work described it as heaven, and that is saying alot coming from her. 

I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think. 

Well, I'm gonna kick back and listen to my Christmas music. Catch ya later!

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

So when I was a kid, my parents and I would go to this awesome Mexican restaurant called Casa Bonita. You would get you food and they would seat you at tables that were at all levels of the restaurant that was scattered around a large indoor waterfall. There were divers that would do amazing different kind of dives into the pool below and also a hilarious safari man and gorilla that would do a comedy sketch. The point to this story is that the best part about this restaurant was the sopapillas that they would bring out after you finished your meal. They were always so hot and fluffy and were amazing with some honey squeezed inside. 

If you don't know what a sopapilla is, it is like a Mexican doughnut but I hate describing it that way. Yes they are cooked alot like doughnuts since they are fried but they are way better than that. They are dusted with cinnamon sugar and like I said earlier they are amazing with honey squeezed inside. 

I was trying to come up with desserts that I could take to Allen's family's Thanksgiving and to work as a treat. Cheesecake bars are very popular and very easy to make. I found this recipe and tweaked it a little to make it taste more like a sopapilla. So without any further ado, the recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars.

You Will Need:

2 (8 oz) cans of crescent roll dough

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese. softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

3/4 cup sugar, divided

4 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, divided

Spray 13x9 pan with cookie spray. Open crescent rolls and unroll into the bottom of pan, pressing together seams to seal. 

In a large bowl, blend together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until creamy. Mix in vanilla, egg, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon until smooth. 

Spread evenly over dough, smoothing to edges. 

On counter, lay out parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Unroll second can of dough onto paper and using rolling pin, seal seams. Then flip over onto top of cheesecake mixture, pressing down at edges to seal in mixture. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Meanwhile, mix together remaining cinnamon and sugar. After done baking, remove bars from oven and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar while still hot. Let cool for an hour before putting in refrigerator overnight to completely set. 

Cut into squares. Depending on how many people you are making for will determine the size that you cut them. I cut mine small since I needed them for 3 events. I was able to get about 24 of them.

They are incredibly delicious and taste alot like a sopapilla to me. One of my friends at work said that they tasted like Cinnamon Toast Crunch (but of course she has never had a sopapilla before lol)

Well I hope you give them a try and let me know how you like them. I have another recipe to share this weekend that I also made for Thanksgiving. 

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. 

Going to finish my episode of Bones. Catch ya later!