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For Valentines Day: VERY vanilla cheesecake bars

February 11th, 2011 by PJ Hamel

Recipe: Vanilla Cheesecake Bars

Love at first bite.

SUCH an overworked expression, but still when youre talking cheesecake, the tiniest bite is capable of sending you

into paroxysms of ardor. The richness of the cream cheese! The delightful interplay of tangy and sweet; the barely

crunchy crust cradling its ultra-smooth filling

Be still, my heart!

Theres one problem with a traditional cheesecake, though; its REALLY hard to serve it in really small pieces. Just try

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cutting a 1/4 slice of a round cheesecake not happening, right?

Take that same luscious cheesecake, though, bake it in a square pan, and all of a sudden its easy to have, literally, just a

tiny bite.

A 1 x 1 cube of cheesecake? No problem. And sometimes, that single bite is all you want and all you need. Just ask

your waistline, right?

Check out our Vanilla Cheesecake Bars.

Before you start: youll want to have 16 ounces (two large packages) of cream cheese at room temperature; so give

yourself a couple of hours for this to happen.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

First, the crust. Put the following in a bowl:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs, about 8 whole crackers

4 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5 tablespoons melted butter


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Stir until the butter is thoroughly dispersed.

You can also do all of this in a food processor. Process the graham crackers and other dry ingredients until the crackers

turn into crumbs, then add the melted butter and pulse briefly, just to combine.

Pour the crumbs into an ungreased 8 square pan.

Can you use a 9 square pan? Yes; see directions at the end of this post.

Press the crumbs into the bottom and about 1/2 up the sides of the pan.

At this point, the recipe calls for you to freeze the crust for 15 minutes, if youre using a metal pan (not necessary if using

ceramic or glass). This is supposed to prevent the edges of the crust from slumping.


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I didnt feel like waiting around, so I just went ahead and put the crust in the oven.

Bake it for 8 to 10 minutes, until it feels a little bit hard/crunchy; the color wont change much, though it may brown a bitin the center and around the edges.

Remove the crust from the oven.

No slumping!

Again, the recipe calls for you to cool the crust before filling. I didnt really bother to do that, either

Hey, thats why they call it the test kitchen, right? Try to do lots of things wrong, and see if it all comes out right!

Next, the filling.

First, before you forget, lower the oven temperature to 325F.


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Put the following in a bowl:

16 ounces (2 large packages) cream cheese, at room temperature1 cup granulated sugar


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Mix until smooth. If the cream cheese is cold from the fridge, youll end up with lumps.

Add the following:

1/4 cup heavy cream or sour cream

3 large eggs

2 to 3 teaspoons Vanilla Bean Crush or vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel, optional

1 teaspoon lemon juice, optional

I like my cheesecake pure vanilla, so I didnt use the lemon. Some folks think the touch of lemon adds New York deli

flavor.

But I did use Vanilla Bean Crush; you really do get beans and crushed pods along with the extract, as you can see from

the sediment in the measuring spoon.


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Mix until combined, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl at some point.

Pretty smooth, eh? I see one lump, but this is the silky texture youre after.


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Pour the batter into the crust.

Itll overflow in spots; not a problem.


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See those flecks of vanilla? Nice!

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until the filling is set but still soft in the center. An instant-read thermometer, inserted

into the filling about 1 in from the edge, will read about 180F.


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I over-baked these; thus the cracks. I also mixed the filling at too high a speed; thus the bubbles.

Do as I say, not as I do!

Remove the bars from the oven, and cool at room temperature for 30 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


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Just before serving, top with fresh berries, fruit pie filling, or whipped cream.

Or not. These bars are delicious all on their own.

OK, want to get fancy for Valentines Day? Bake the bars in a 9 square span, instead of an 8 square; dont push the

crust up the sides of the pan. Baking times will remain basically the same, with the larger pan taking, at most, a couple of

minutes less than the smaller pan: go more towards 35 minutes than 40.

Once the bars have been thoroughly chilled in the fridge, find a heart cutter thats at least 3/4 deep. Cut down through

the cheesecake layer, and completely through the crust. Lift the heart out; it should stick in the cutter. Position the heart

over a serving plate, and gently press down on it to deposit it onto the plate.

This is a bit of a fussy process. The cake tends to stick; the crust tends to crumble. If you dont mind working slowly and

carefully, you should do pretty well after youve tried a few for practice.


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And you can always cover up any egregious crust mishaps with confectioners sugar.

Frankly, Id just cut these into squares and call it a day. But for those of you who enjoy taking the time to make

something pretty go for it.

Read, rate, and review (please) our recipe for Vanilla Cheesecake Bars.

Print just the recipe.

Tags: Bars, cheesecake, hearts, vanilla

This entry was posted on Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 9:28 am and is filed under cookies & bars. You can follow any comments to this entrythrough the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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One Comment on For Valentines Day: VERY vanilla cheesecake bars

bsteimle Says:

February 11th, 2011 at 10:10 am

These look divine. Can the recipe be doubled and made in a 13 x 9 pan?

You can try doubling the recipe, but I recommend using two seperate 8X8 pans. ~Amy @KAF

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For Valentine’s Day: VERY vanilla cheesecake bars | King Arthur Flour – Baking Banter