Cheesecake Cookie Bars
Cheesecake Bars
Mom’s Cheesecake Bars
When I was younger, my Mom would host “club meetings” with her friends. Everyone would make a dish or dessert and come over to gossip and talk. This was a no-kid allowed get-together, but I remember her sending us downstairs with over own little cup of onion dip and chips. Then the next day there were always leftover desserts, and these ladies could bake! They would swap recipes when there was a call for it.
Cheesecake Bars
The Cheesecake Cookie Bars are from her friend, Ray Sarro. She called them cheese cookies, but they are really more of a bar with a crust layer and pieces of crumbled crust dotted throughout the thick and creamy cheese layer.
Ingredients for Cheesecake Cookie Bars
- Flour
- Butter
- Sugar
- Cream cheese
- Egg
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon juice
The original recipe used chopped nuts in the crust, but our family does not like nuts, so we omitted them, but I will list them below in the printable recipe version.
These bars are light and fluffy and are best served the next day. It gives the cheesecake a chance to set in the fridge and when they are cold, they can be cut easily.
My husband likes his cheesecake with a fruit topping so you can serve these bars with a side of jarred compote or pie filling if desired. He likes the cherry pie filling the best!
How to Make Cheesecake Cookie Bars
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 8” square cake pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine the flour, butter and sugar until combined.
Reserve ½ of this dough for later.
Press the other half of dough into the cake pan evenly.
Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly brown.
Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth.
Pour over the prepared crust and spread out evenly.
Break small pieces of the reserved dough and dot the top of the cream cheese mixture.
Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes until the middle is set.
Let cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Enjoy!
This is the first of many club meeting recipes that I will be sharing on the blog. There are many variations of cheesecake, so these ladies must have really enjoyed this type of dessert. My mom gave me an envelope with these hand written recipe cards along with some of my Nana’s recipes as well.
Here are a few of my favorite passed-down recipes:
Nana’s Apple Cake
Swedish Butter Cookies
Soft Italian Biscotti
Creamy Rice Pudding
Cheesecake Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup Flour
- 1/3 cup Butter, softened
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- Filling-
- 8 oz Cream cheese, softened
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 TBSP Milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 TBSP Lemon juice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 8” square cake pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine the flour, butter and sugar until combined.
Reserve ½ of this dough for later.
Press the other half of dough into the cake pan evenly.
Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly brown.
Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth.
Pour over the prepared crust and spread out evenly.
Break small pieces of the reserved dough and dot the top of the cream cheese mixture.
Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes until the middle is set.
Let cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Notes
You can add in 1/3 cup chopped nuts into the crust dough if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 196Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 108mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 0gSugar: 11gProtein: 3g