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.

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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

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12 Responses to “Chewy Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies”

  1. #
    1
    Fun and Fearless in Beantown — January 3, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    I love, love, love how serious your distinction is between chewy puffy vs. chewy thin vs. crispy thin cookies. It makes me smile.

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    2
    Jen — January 3, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    Like I said, I’m weird about cookies 🙂

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    3
    Cupcake Activist — January 3, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    I love molasses and chocolate chip cookies. Great idea to put them together. I like chewy thin cookies.

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    4
    Blog is the New Black — January 3, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    I don’t like flat cookies, either! i like fat, soft ones! (TWSS)

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    5
    Daisy — January 3, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    If f anyone is entitled to be weird abotu cookies it is you. these look yummy, I’m all about flat and chewy!

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    6
    Megan — January 3, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    One of my co-workers makes a ginger chocolate chip cookie that I was surprised to find I liked. These seem like they’d be similar.

  7. #
    7
    Shannon — January 4, 2011 at 12:13 am

    sometimes responses from friends and family is all you need! there’s always the next batch for you to love 🙂

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    8
    innochkaskitchen — January 4, 2011 at 2:39 am

    Hmmm so I love chocolate chip cookies…and my husband LOVES molasses cookies…I wonder if this is our perfect compromise…
    Great recipe!

  9. #
    9
    cookingwhims — January 4, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    These look and sound amazing–I’ll have to try these 🙂

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    10
    ann — January 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    These look great. It’s hard to find a good Molasses Cookie.

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    11
    Jo — January 15, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    I love these cookies because I am the worst person at remembering to take butter out to soften and with these I don’t have to worry about that. I made my first batch with milk chocolate chips and my second with butterscotch chips (since my FIL can’t have chocolate) and they were both wonderful. The 8 year old finds them too tangy – so more for me 🙂

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    12
    Julsey — January 27, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    Best. Cookies. Ever. Making them for a 2nd time today and mailing half to my friend in Colorado who desperately needs a pick me up 🙂

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