Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Wow. That is an understatement. OMG. That is also an understatement. When I stood by the kitchen sink and sank my teeth into my first ever Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bar, I was in Nirvana. If you haven't had one of these, you my friend, are missing out on something incredible. 

I was flipping through my recipe folders (which contains printed recipes from other blogs) when I stopped at Jess' Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars. Yes, I do remember these cheesecake bars from 2012. We were fated to meet again.

These cheesecake bars, like most cheesecakes, use digestive biscuits as the base. But since I had some chocolate chip cookies in the fridge, I decided to use those instead.

These cookies were banged around a bit and they were damaged. Still edible, still good but not presentable. They were perfect for a cheesecake base. So I bashed them up and mixed them with melted butter.

Then the whole lot was pressed into the base of the cake tin. At first it felt like that there was not enough but I kept pressing the cookie crumbs and they finally covered the entire base.

The base was baked in the oven for 8 minutes. Meantime I made the cookie dough. The recipe calls for forming clumps with the dough, flattening it and then arranging the dough on top of the cheese layer.

I soon realized that my cookie dough was very soft. How the heck was I going to form clumps, flatten and then place it on the cheese? Jess did not mention any issues with the dough. Then I took another look at the recipe. Aiks!! No egg!!

I had absentmindedly added an egg to the batter because there is usually an egg in cookie dough. I had been baking cookies the last 3 weeks and I was on auto-cookie mode. This cookie dough is different, it has no eggs.

So how?? I added more flour but the dough was still too soft. So I chilled it in the fridge while I prepared the cream cheese layer. The dough firmed up but it soon softened due to the very hot weather and my very warm hands. But I managed.

Then it was off to the oven to bake. This was how it turned out.

Not too bad, eh?

I left it to cool for a few hours while I went about my grocery run. Once it was cool, I sliced it immediately because there was not enough time to chill the cake.

They were quite easy to slice as they are firm and compact.  I used a knife dipped in hot water and I wiped between cuts.

These I tell you, they are too good to share hah...hah... I ate two and the rest I stashed away in the freezer to be enjoyed in the days to come. Oh, actually I had another two in the evening. Amen.

Now I know what to do with my extra home baked cookies. I believe they made a much better base for the cheesecake. Well, this will not be the last time I bake these Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars. I am looking into baking another one and this time, I will share :)

Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Recipe source : Adapted from Bakericious

Ingredients :

For the crust

- 200g Chocolate Chip Cookies (or Digestive Biscuits), crushed

- 70g butter, melted

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

- 70g butter, softened

- 50g soft brown sugar

- 2 tbsp caster sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 85g flour

- 1 cup chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling

- 250g cream cheese, at room temperature

- 50g caster sugar

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method :

For the crust :

1. Mix crushed cookies/biscuits and butter evenly until it resembles wet sand.

2. Pour into the base of an 8" lined baking pan (make sure there is an overhang for easy removal of cake).

3. Press the mixture into the base.

4. Bake at 160C for 8 minutes.

5. Set aside to cool.

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add vanilla and continue to mix.

3. Add flour and mix to combine.

4. Add chocolate chips and mix to form a dough. Set aside.

For the Cream Cheese Filling

1. Beat the cream cheese and sugar until well mixed.

2. Add vanilla and egg and continue to beat until mixture is smooth.

3. Pour the cream cheese into the prepared pan and tilt the pan to spread the cream cheese evenly over the pan.

To cover Cream Cheese with Cookie Dough :

1. Using your hands, pinch off some dough and flatten the dough.

2. Place the flattened dough onto the cream cheese.

3. Repeat until all the dough is used up and the cheese layer is covered.

Bake at 160C for 30-35 minutes  or until the cookie dough is dry to the touch and the batter is firm (does not jiggle when shaken slightly).

Cool the cake before slicing into bars.