Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
When I sent a picture of these bars to Hubby at work to show him what I had done during my day off, his response was simple “YES PLEASE”. As I’ve mentioned, Hubby is a HUGE cookie dough fan. As much as he claims not to be a big sweets/dessert guy, he will never deny his love of cookie dough. So when I saw these pop up in my Google Reader, there was no doubt that I had to add them to my must-bake list.
And due to that love of cookie dough, these bars jumped right to the top of that must-bake list. And boy am I glad they did. In fact, I think everyone who got to taste these guys is glad they made it to the top of the must-bake list.
These bars start with a base of a graham cracker crust with mini chocolate chips in it. Yes please. Next comes a cheesecake layer. Yes please. And last, but definitely not least, comes a layer of cookie dough crumbles. Yes Please.
The combination of these three layers results in amazingly delicious cookie bar that you will not be forgetting about any time soon. You get a great crunchiness from the graham cracker crust, then a great creaminess from the cheesecake layer, and then the delicious crumbliness from the cookie dough. I this this cookie dough recipe would be great to mix in to some ice cream. Like I mentioned, it yielded large crumbles of cookie dough, as opposed to the smooth cookie dough frosting that I’ve used on brownies and mini cupcakes.
A couple notes, I doubled this recipe since I was baking for a large group. I used a 9×13 pan and had to bake them for about double the baking time listed. I have shown the recipe below as a single batch. The original recipe has a chocolate drizzle over the top. I left it off literally because I forgot about it, but it would add another layer of indulgence to these bars.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
Yield: 16
Ingredients:
For the Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 Tbsp butter, melted
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
For the Cookie Dough
5 Tbsp butter, room temp.
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips
For the Cheesecake Filling
10 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325.
For the crust
Grease a 8x8 pan with butter, line pan with parchment paper and butter the paper, leaving enough to extend over the sides.
Crush graham crackers into crumbs to make 1 & 1/2 cups. Add to butter and stir until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.
Press crust mixture into bottom of pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.
For cookie dough
Using mixer and the paddle attachment, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Adjust mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.
For cheesecake
Using mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended.
Pour batter into cooled, baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling.
Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Place in the refrigerator to chill several hours.
Recipe adapted from Bake at 350
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Cute idea and they look so easy to make. Must try.
And the stick makes them perfect for milk dipping.
oh my…i’ve tried my hand at these and just about every oreo ended up cracking when i tried to insert the stick. *frowny face* not even dipping the sticks first seemed to help? do you have any suggestions on how to slide them in without any hiccups. *wink*
thank you SO much for your help…yours came out adorable!
Wow, these are such a great favor idea! They look easy, but impressive (and delicious)!
Sues
I am loving all of these new parents/new baby posts, because friends of ours just had a baby boy last week and I can just do everything you’re doing! 🙂
Jess@pen – are you using Double Stuffed Oreos? If you’re using regular Oreos, maybe the center isn’t thick enough to support the lollipop stick between the cookie ends. Or maybe the lollipop stick isn’t thin enough (do they even make different sizes?). Just thinking out loud. Good luck. 🙂
jen@pen – I agree with Sarah, be sure to use double stuff Oreos and thin sticks. You’ll notice that the craft store has at least two thicknesses of sticks. You want the thinnest ones. I did slide the sticks in slowly but didn’t have any issues with breaking cookies.
Why must this kind of thing be posted when I’m trying to lose weight? 😉
YUM! I love the idea of doing the initial on them!
Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
party inspiration
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Awesome post.
How far ahead can you make these and will the Oreo get soggy ?
beantownbaker — February 23rd, 2014 @ 8:45 pm
We made them a week in advance and the Oreos did not get soggy.
I can totally see the hiccups @jess, the Double Stuf Oreos have a far more thin and brittle cookie than the original Oreos. They crumble, split and crack very easily, I would imagine irregardless of stuffing volume, the structural integrity of the original Oreo cookie would hold up better for this project.
Can u freeze them?
Hi just wanted to say I have made these every year since 2009 when you posted them, still love them just as much!